Lost Souls
by redsandman99
Summary: High school fic. Jeff and James both come from violent, broken homes. But as a relationship develops between them, the outside forces that haunted them both for so long try to tear them apart. Will their relationship last, or will they get torn apart?
1. Home Isn't Safe

Jeff

I woke up at about five in the morning, which was three hours earlier than I needed to in order not to be late at school. Now when I was little, I got up that early all the time to watch cartoons, but now I wished I could just sleep in. But honestly, I didn't want to stick around in any longer than I had to. It was scary to have to feel that way in my own house, but that was the way it had been ever since Dad had died. He had been killed in a car crash that had knocked Matt into a coma for a week and broke my arm and my left. Aunt Kelsey lived with us now, but she was going to be gone for the next two weeks, leaving me all alone with Matt. And that was probably the worst thing that could happen to me, because my brother happened to hate my guts.

The sad part is, we used to be so close. When we were little, he was my hero and my best friend. But then Mom died and he started pulling away from both me and Dad. At first he always just acted moody and stuff, but then it got worse when he met his boyfriend, Adam Copeland. Adam was a grade A asshole on every level, and he especially had it out for me. Back when they were in junior high, he would mess with me and Matt would just let him do it. But by the time they got to high school, Matt was being just as mean to me as Adam was being. And then, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the crash happened seven months ago, and Matt pretty much flat out blamed me for Daddy's death and told me he hated me. On top of that, Adam was now always giving me these very perverted looks that make me think he's going to rape me or something….and considering that he did it to my friend Evan, I'm actually pretty fucking scared right now.

I rolled out of bed very slowly, wincing as the pain in my ribs flared up horribly. Last night, when I was upstairs doing my homework, Adam snuck into the house and made a huge fucking mess in the kitchen. Then, when Matt came home, the fucking liar told him I did it. That pissed off my dear big brother and he marched upstairs and kicked my ass for what felt like forever. My ribs and back took most of the damage, because I still had three days of school left before the weekend, so he didn't want anyone asking questions. Not that I would tell them the truth if they asked. Only Evan, Shannon and Dave knew about what Matt did, and Evan and Shannon knew that like what happened between Evan and Adam in the band room was not to be discussed, neither was this. Dave, who was a senior (Evan, Shannon and I were freshmen), was not afraid of either Matt or Adam (he was actually bigger than them by a lot), was probably eventually going to spill the beans and just destroy the both of them. But I kept begging him not to do it, because I had to live with Matt, and if Dave did something to them because of me, Matt could get me while I was sleeping. With the way Adam's got him warped, I would not put it past him.

I got dressed and then crept out of my room and into the bathroom as quietly as I could. Every creak and groan the floor made sounded a thousand times louder than it actually was. My heart was beating so hard in my chest I was shocked that it wasn't waking Matt up. When I got into the bathroom, I sighed in relief and quickly brushed my teeth. All I had to do now was grab my bag from the living room and then get the fuck out of the house. My current plan was to hang out by the train tracks near the school until it was time for my first class. I would have to skip gym yet again, but I couldn't help it. My body hurt too much to even think I could begin to participate.

Suddenly the bathroom door opened, scaring me out of my wits. "I thought I heard you up," Adam said with a smirk. He looked tired as hell; he had probably only gotten up to use the bathroom. But I knew that smirk too well and I knew he wanted to play for just a little bit now.

"Leave me alone," I ordered, trying not to let my voice shake. Fuck, why did Aunt Kelsey have to go away? She didn't like Adam and didn't let him in the house if she could help it.

"Why would I do that?" he asked in amusement. His evil eyes traveled down to my stomach. "How are the ribs?"

"None of your business," I snapped. I tried to escape from the room but Adam blocked my way. "Adam knock it off. I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, grabbing me by the arms and looking at me like I was a piece of meat or something. "I never told you that you could leave."

I winced as he squeezed my arms painfully tight. "Adam please, not now."

"Why not? Are you going to go meet up with Randy? Are you going to spread your pretty little legs for Orton again?"

"I've never had sex with Randy," I informed him. Which was the truth. Randy was a senior, like Matt and Adam, and he always thought it was funny to corner me in closets and either fondle me or make me blow him. He had never made me have sex with him though--not yet anyway. Ted (a junior) and Cody (a freshman) were his little bitches for now, although I knew that if the day came that he would get bored with them, Adam was going to have some competition in the raping me department.

"Yeah right," Adam said with a snort. "Matt and I know you're a big slut. The way all those guys look at you--"

"I can't help it that the school is full of sexual deviants that need to learn how to take no for answer!" I interrupted angrily. I was tired of being accused of being a slut. I was a fucking virgin and it hurt to be thought of as a gigantic slut. "And you don't help anything by trying to spread all those lies about me!"

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so I'm a liar now?"

"You've always been a liar. You lie to Matt just to rile him up and get him to beat me. You--"

"You're the one who makes Matt hit you, not me. Maybe if you hadn't gotten your Daddy killed, Matt--"

I interrupted the fucker by punching him as hard as I could. I couldn't stand to hear him blame me for shit that wasn't my fault any more. I already blamed myself enough for the wreck as it was, so I didn't need his help in that department.

I quickly tried to escape the room, but he grabbed me by the waist and threw me back up against the wall. That jarred my broken ribs so badly that I let out a small scream. He hit me in the gut several times, and I crumpled down to the ground in agony. Fuck, it was hell even trying to breathe now. Why couldn't he just leave me alone? Why did he always have to do this to me?

Adam got down on the floor and grabbed my hair. "You want to know something Jeffey?" He gave my hair a good yank, making me whimper in pain. "I'm very close to convincing Matt in letting me fuck your pretty little brains out. He's not going to resist the idea forever. He'll get over his jealousy issues because he knows you deserve everything I'll give you. So if I were you Jeff, I'd watch myself very carefully. I wouldn't want anything I did to come back to haunt me later." He let go of my hair and then kicked me one more time before leaving the room.

I laid there for God knows how long, clutching my ribs and struggling just to breathe. I cried a few silent tears, but that was nothing new. Crying in pain was a pretty common occurrence for me. _I just have to hold on till next August,_ I tried to tell myself. _Then Matt and Adam will go away to college and I'll only have to deal with them during their vacations. I can do that…maybe…fuck, who am I kidding? I can't take eleven more months of this. They're going to kill me before then._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

James

Waking up to go to school was absolute hell. I hated getting up so fucking early to go to a place that I hated more in the world. If it were up to me, then I would just drop out already. I didn't need a high school diploma to do what I wanted to do in life. I already had a job for life because I already owned my dad's porn production company, and porn was always in demand. But I had to go, mainly for Annabelle's sake. My twin sister had wanted so badly to graduate like a normal person, but she sometimes, when her medicine wasn't working right or she wasn't taking it, she couldn't even go into a classroom because of her people phobia would kick in and she would have to go hide in a bathroom because she would have such bad anxiety attacks. That was the reason the school had to make sure Mark, Glenn or myself were in every single one of her classes. We were the only thing that kept her going sometimes.

"James?" Annabelle said sleepily. She was already up and holding Cooper. Nearly a year and a half ago, she and Mark had a very drunken one night stand. Nine months after that, Cooper had been born. He was now eight months old, and I was basically his daddy in every single way other than biologically. Mark was just not ready to be a dad (in fact, he was absolutely terrible with kids) and I actually loved Cooper like my own, so it was only natural for me to step in and be the adult for once. "Can you take Cooper downstairs and feed him? I really need to get in the shower."

"Yeah, okay," I said. I rolled out of bed and walked over to her. Even though we were fraternal twins (we had to be since we were the opposite sex), we looked more alike than other fraternal twins I knew. We both had very dark brown hair (although hers was long and curly and mine was short in length but messy all over---brushes were not my friend), we were both unnaturally tall, and we both had really, really dark eyes. They were almost black, which actually matched my soul very well, so it was all good.

"Da!" Cooper said happily as I took him into my arms. His hair was lighter like Mark's, although he had Annabelle's eyes. "Da!"

"Yeah, Daddy's here," I said with a grin. I gave Annabelle as innocent of a kiss on the lips as I could before leaving the room. I knew my affection bothered her sometimes, mainly because of a few indiscretions between us that would confirm all the rumors about us being more than a little bit incestuous. But I didn't give a damn what anyone thought of us and I sure as hell didn't care about what society thought was taboo. After the shit we had been put through by our own parents, nothing we did should ever come to a shock to anyone. We were fucked from birth; she was doomed to be a depressed, anxious and angst filled bitch and I was already a loony toon with a bloodlust that had already claimed more than a few lives.

See, the thing of it was, I wasn't born with a conscience. I had never cared about the consequences of my actions. Instead of that, I was born with an unnatural desire to cause pain and death. I used to try to just take it out on animals when I was younger (Adam Copeland still hated me because he thought I killed his dog---and he was right) but I soon realized that I actually liked animals. It was people who I couldn't fucking stand, and it was people who I wanted to kill. So I did just that, usually picking off hookers or homeless people or runaways---the usual suspects of people who wouldn't be missed. Although there were a few people at school I wouldn't mind getting my hands on…

Cooper, who had been babbling happily in his baby talk the whole way to the kitchen, suddenly began to whimper and whine. It didn't take me long to figure out why. Caroline, my fucking cunt of a mother, was in there. She almost looked like Annabelle, except her face was all bony and her skin looked like it was made of ice. She was wearing her moth eaten purple robe, and she was already holding a drink in her hand. She was a raging alcoholic, and she was the source of my biggest frustration and hatred. I wanted to kill her so badly that I could barely stand it, but everyone knew I hated her, so suspicion would fall on me if she disappeared without warning. That was why Mark and Glenn were spreading rumors about her having a boyfriend who lived a few towns away--we wanted people to believe she would run off with him instead of having them rightly believed that I killed her.

"You need to keep the boy quieter during the night," she told me as I put Cooper into his high chair. "I could hear him in the middle of the night."

"Bullshit," I snapped. I went to the cupboard and got out some applesauce. "I saw you take three Valium after dinner. You didn't hear a fucking thing all night." I opened the container, grabbed a small spoon and began feeding Cooper. My hands were shaking because I could feel her eyes glaring at me. Cooper kept putting up a fuss, his little baby eyes staring anxiously at my mother. He could sense she was pure evil, and it scared him. Poor little guy; I was becoming more and more convinced that killing her would be a mercy on him.

The sound of the front door opening caught all of our attention. Just a few minutes later, Mark and Glenn came into the room. Mark, my sometimes lover and my best friend for life, looked like he was in not such a pleasant mood this morning. Glenn, his half brother who was only a year younger than we were, looked like he would rather not be around my mother. That made him part of the club that consisted of every single person who had ever met her.

"What the fuck are you two doing in my house?" Caroline asked in her screeching and irritating voice. She hated Mark and Glenn just as much as she hated me and Annabelle. "I told you two to stay the fuck out!"

"Yeah, well tough luck bitch," Mark replied. He looked at me. "Where's Annabelle? We need to get going if we're going to drop Cooper off at Tammy's house before going to school."

"I'm here," Annabelle said as she ran in. She looked better than she had in the past two months, so maybe her depression and anxiety were finally dying down for awhile. "We can go now."

"I told you not to give them a key to this house!" Caroline screamed at me, ignoring the conversation that was going on on the side. "I do not want them in here!"

"Well I don't care what you want you fucking bitch!" I yelled back. I gave Cooper one last bite of food before closing the jar of applesauce. I was just going to tell Tammy to finish feeding him because he wasn't going to eat around Caroline anymore. She was scaring him too much. "So why don't you just quit fucking yelling and go drown in your booze already?"

She slammed her drink down on the counter and grabbed the pot full of hot coffee. Before I even knew what she was doing, she smashed it against my face, burning the fuck out of me and Cooper when some of the liquid got on his arm. He immediately began screaming, which made Annabelle scream, and my yells of pain triggered Mark to punch Caroline in the face and then Caroline bailed, leaving Glenn to try to calm us all down.

"Don't touch me!" I snarled at Glenn. I was absolutely seething with rage. The side of my forehead was bleeding and the entire left side of my face burned. I went over to the sink (where Annabelle was now running cool water over Cooper's arm) and I tried to rinse myself off. "Fucking cunt little bitch! Fuck mother fucker god damn whore I'll fucking kill her!" I launched myself from the sink and over to the table, which I flipped over. Then I picked up a chair and launched it through the glass sliding doors. The crash of that startled Sparky, my pit bull, and it made Cooper cry more.

"James stop it!" Annabelle pleaded. She was crying, partly because Cooper was screaming and partly because she was scared of me when I lost my temper. "Please, just stop."

I plopped down on the floor, shaking with too much anger to do much else. Sparky came out from the living room and licked my face, trying to comfort me in his doggy way. "The bitch is going to get it," I vowed. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to gut her like a damn catfish and I will enjoy every single second of it."

"Yeah, I bet you will," Mark said. "But that's going to wait, because I'm not letting you land yourself in trouble by doing this rashly. You're going to fucking follow my lead on this shit, because then you won't get caught."

I glared at him. I hated it when he was bossy like this.

"Don't give me that look!" he snapped. "I'm trying to keep your ass out of jail here. I know how irrational you get when it comes to Caroline. If I left if up to you, you would kill her and leave her for the whole town to find." He turned back to Glenn. "Get me the burn ointment from bathroom. We need to do some basic first aid here before we go."

I sighed and closed my eyes. This was going to be a long ass day. I could feel that already. _If I don't kill the first person who looks at me funny, it'll be a miracle._


	2. Friends and Enemies

Jeff

When I got to school, Shannon and Evan were both waiting for me by my locker. Shannon was in his full "Reject" mode; he was wearing way too much eyeliner (and maybe some mascara) and his blonde and black Mohawk was standing straight up. People had always thought he was a freak, and his look was not doing anything to change that perception about him. Evan was already wearing a long sleeved shirt, which meant that he had started cutting himself again. I hated seeing that, but there was really nothing I could do about it. Evan was pretty fucking depressed and he had no plans on being saved.

"What's wrong with you?" Shannon asked me. "You're walking all slow and stuff."

"My ribs hurt," I replied. I set my bag down and rested my head up against my locker. The coolness of it made me feel just a tiny bit better. "I need to skip gym again today. I fucking hurt too bad to even try to do anything."

Shannon and Evan exchanged looks. "Maybe you should come and stay with one of us until Kelsey comes back," Evan suggested timidly. "You can't stay at home with Matt. It's not safe."

"I know it's not, but I don't think I'm going to have a choice," I told him. "He hates me, but he wants me around to make me miserable. If I go to stay somewhere else, he'll probably get pissed and drag me home by the hair."

"He won't if you ever just lock me alone in a room with him for five minutes. I'll make sure he never lays a hand on you again."

I turned around to see Dave standing there. A lot of people thought it was strange that we were friends, especially since he was a jock and I was a freak. But he actually hated the whole nature of our school and rebelled against it. And besides from that, we had actually become friends before I was in high school. When I was twelve, I was at a park one day and Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler were harassing me. Dave came to my aid, and we ended up becoming friends. He had become extremely protective of me over the years, and even though I had never flat out told him that Matt abused me, he pretty much figured it out on his own.

"Come on Jeff, you can't keep letting him do this to you," he insisted. "He and Adam are fucking pigs. If you just let--"

"I can't, okay?" I said stubbornly. "Dave, you don't get it. If you beat them up and they even suspect it was because of me, I'm the one who's going to suffer more. I fucking live with Matt. He knows where I sleep. He can get me when you're not around." I put my hand on my sore ribs. Fuck, I really needed to go to a hospital or something. I was in too much fucking pain. "Dave please, don't it just for me. If you can get into some other confrontation with them, then you can wail on them all you want. But don't do it for me, or I'm going to get killed in my sleep. And knowing Matt and Adam, that is not an exaggeration."

Dave sighed and punched the locker next to mine. "Fuck Jeff, you need to at least tell someone who can get you out of there. You need to go live with someone else or they're eventually going to take this way too far. Then what are you going to do?"

I shook my head. "I don't know," I said quietly. "I guess I'll just be screwed then."

The bell ran at that moment, telling us that we were late for first period. I sighed and opened up my locker, stuffing the books I didn't need till later in there. I had algebra at the moment, which sucked because I hated it. Mr. Adamle was a moron with a boring ass voice, so I always fell asleep during the class, which just made my grades even worse.

Evan slipped his arm through mine as our group began walking. He was in my class too, so he knew he would have to suffer through it too. He didn't try to tell me that everything would be okay. Part of it was because he knew that was a damn lie, and the other part was because he hadn't talked much since Adam attacked him. But he's trying to comfort me and I cling to him, mainly because I'm scared. I'm scared of Matt, Adam, Randy and pretty much everything else in my life.

Fuck, this sucks. I don't want to believe anything can get worse than this, but I know better than that. Everything can get worse.

Much, much worse.

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James

First period Spanish was nearly impossible to get through. I couldn't concentrate at all. I just kept breaking pencil after pencil because my grip was too tight. The weight of the hunting knife strapped to my ankle was also weighing heavily on my mind. I wanted to use it. I needed to use it. But I couldn't, which drove me nuts. And Annabelle wasn't helping, shooting me worried looks every two seconds. Finally I couldn't stand it. I got up and bailed out of the room, ignoring Mrs. Garcia and heading straight to the bathroom. I barely made it to the stall before throwing up violently. Last night's dinner did not taste good coming back up.

"James?" Mark said just moments later. "Annabelle just texted me. What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting sick," I replied as I flushed the toilet. I stumbled out of the stall and caught a look of myself in the mirror. Damn, I looked like shit.

Mark shook his head. "Fucking hell Lawson, you can't let Caroline have that effect on you. That's how she wins."

Yeah, that was easy for him to say. He didn't live with her. She wasn't his mother. When it came to her, nothing was simple. When I was little, I had wanted her to love me. But she hated me from the start. She never wanted me or Annabelle. She hadn't even wanted our older brother Jacob, so she got really angry when she ended up getting pregnant a second time. My first real memory of her was her trying to slit by throat with a wire hanger (we were in her bedroom so she didn't have a knife with her). From there on, we had the most volatile and unhealthy relationship. I hated her more than anyone else in the world, yet it almost hurt to hate her, because I had always wanted a mother. I didn't even care about having a pig for a father. I could live without one of those. But Caroline was never motherly, so that was why I had latched on to Annabelle the way I did. She was the closest thing to a mother as I could get. But she never really was enough. She wasn't stable enough, and more often than not, I was taking care of her. It was maddening.

Mark sighed as I rinsed my mouth out. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked. He was more concerned than he wanted to let on. Our relationship was never a stable one. We were friends, but we drove each other nuts and our romantic relationship, which was on again off again, was never actually sweet or loving. It was actually kind of violent. I guess two dominants can't co-exist if one has to be submissive.

I nodded. "Do you have a mint?"

He reached into his pocket and gave me one. I put it in my mouth and sucked on it. "Annabelle's going to be pissed that I left her alone in the classroom," I muttered.

"She'll get over it. It's not like she's never run out of a classroom before." Mark patted me on the back before escorting me out of the bathroom. Class ended just as we got out and it didn't take long for Annabelle to join us. For once, Annabelle didn't say anything about me leaving her all alone in a classroom. She just followed me and Mark to the biology, which was another subject I was not looking forward to.

Once the bell ran signaling class to start, Mr. Cole decided we were going to do group projects today. He split us into groups of six. In my group there was me, Annabelle, Mark, John Cena, Matt Hardy and Adam Copeland. I knew right then and there the universe was conspiring to have me thrown in jail for murder. John was a goody goody who I couldn't stand at all. But Matt and Adam were even worse. I hated both of them with a fiery passion, and the weight of my hunting knife began to feel even heavier.

Annabelle looked at the worksheet we were supposed to do. We were supposed to dissect a fetal pig and then answer the questions or draw something or some shit like that. I didn't know for sure because I hadn't paid attention. "So um…who's cutting the pig open?"

All eyes turned to me. "Why do you people think I want to do it?" I asked. "That things smells."

"We just think this is your area of expertise, you dog killer," Adam replied. If looks could kill, I would be so dead right now.

I grinned at him and picked the pig up. "Oh stop it Copeland. Let's kiss and make up." I attempted to shove the thing right in his face.

Matt actually had the audacity to slap my hand. "You keep that fucking thing away from my boyfriend," he growled. "Or we're going to have a problem."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Hardy, you are asking for trouble right now. I'd be very careful if I were you."

I tilted my head to the side. "What are you going to do Matt if I don't stop messing with Adam here? Are you going to beat me like you do Jeff? Are you going to let him rape me like he did to Evan? Because let me tell you _Matty_, that's not going to end well for either of you if you do."

He glared at me when I called him Matty. When I was younger, I heard that was what Jeff called him. But not anymore though. Everyone knew that Matt hated Jeff now. Everyone knew that Matt beat Jeff. Nobody did anything about it though. It was the ostrich syndrome at its worse; we thought if we stuck our heads down in the sand, it would just go away. The sad thing is, that's what happened with Evan too. Nobody gave a shit what happened to those two because they were "freaks".

But I was a freak too. And maybe I gave a shit because I hated Matt.

"James, please don't do this," Annabelle pleaded. "You're just looking for a fight."

"You're fucking right I am," I said. I threw the fetal pig right at Matt's face. "Come on Hardy. Let's fight. I want to fight you right now."

Matt smirked at me. "I'm not sure your whore would like that very much." He looked right at Annabelle as he said this.

My eyes narrowed. My pig of a father Joseph used to call Annabelle a whore all the time. It was what got him killed actually. I got tired of him verbally slamming her and making her feel like shit. My vision began to cloud up and suddenly Matt was gone and in his place was Joseph.

That was when things went a little black and hazy. When I finally snapped back into my senses, half the class was pulling me off of Matt while the other half was trying to separate Mark and Adam. Mr. Cole was yelling and I was pretty sure Officer Slaughter was being called in. Matt was trying to get back up to his feet. His nose was busted up and his mouth was gushing blood. I grinned and spat at him, letting him know just exactly what I thought of him.

_I'm probably going to get my ass expelled,_ I thought to myself as I was dragged out of the room. But I didn't actually care about that. McMahon could do what he wanted to me; it wouldn't save Copeland and Hardy in the long run. Because their days were officially number.

I made my executive decision to mark them for death.


	3. Black Clouds

Matt

Besides from having a bloody lip and nose, I had no real injuries from my little scuffle with James. Well, no physical injuries anyway. My pride was a little wounded, but I tried not to let it show. James and Mark were grade A psychos who probably wouldn't even get punished for what had happened; Mr. McMahon had already suspended them three times and we've barely been in school for over a month. Suspensions were just vacations for them. In school suspensions and detentions were skipped and as for them finally getting kicked out (which they should have been for the amount of times they've been suspended alone), I doubted McMahon would go through with it. Expelling them meant having a meeting with a school board (which McMahon hated because they sometimes overruled him--and the man was filled with too much pride to take that very well) but he would have to have a meeting with their parents. And Caroline Lawson was the last person anyone wanted to have a meeting with. She made Satan look like a saint in comparison.

"Fucking crazy bastards," Adam muttered darkly. "I fucking can't stand them." He was agitated as hell, which I always found to be really hot.

"Yeah, I can't either," I said with a nod. When I had been younger, James had actually kind of scared me a little bit. But as I grew older, I just…I didn't know. James and I had never really clicked to begin with, and he never liked Adam, which didn't set well with me at all. Then there was the incident involving Adam's Saint Bernard Monster, which only added fuel to the fire. "We'll get them back eventually. We just need to be patient."

"Fuck being patient," Adam said. Out of the two of us, he was the hot head who didn't know how to plan shit out. "Fucking Lawson and Callaway--"

"Adam, just shut up for two minutes," I ordered. I didn't want to listen to him rant and rave at the moment. It wasn't going to do anything but piss me off more.

Adam went quiet, although he looked kind of pissed that I had yelled at him. He didn't say anything about it though. He knew better than that. Despite what I knew Jeff thought, Adam was no in control of this relationship. Maybe it had kind of started out that way at first, but I had turned the tables very quickly on my blonde boyfriend. I called the shots, and if he didn't like it, he just shut up and dealt with it.

"Do you think Jeff said something to James?" Adam finally asked a few minutes later. The hallways were clearing out now that third period was about to start. "I mean, what James said--"

"Lawson always knows more than he should," I interrupted. While I had never credited Jeff with an overabundance of brains, I highly doubted that he had ever told James about what I did to him or what Adam did to Evan. I doubted that Jeff really even knew who James was. "And besides from that, he probably overheard you bragging about what popping Evan's cherry when you were drunk. You have trouble keeping your mouth shut when you're drunk."

"Yeah I know," Adam said with a sigh. "But come on, don't you think that's enough of an excuse to punish to Jeff?" He looked at me with eager eyes. "I mean, we should be safe rather than sorry, right?"

I smirked. I knew Adam just wanted an excuse to go after Jeff. He had been asking me for weeks if he could deflower Jeff, but I hadn't made up my mind if I wanted him to do it or not. As much as I knew Jeff would hate it (and his misery brought me joy), I was the type who got jealous very easily. "We'll see about that, alright?"

He nodded. "Alrighty then." He grabbed me by the hand. "Come on, I want to go torment the band geeks while they're trying to play their instruments."

I chuckled and let him pull me along. I knew part of the reason he really wanted to go into the band room right now was because his brother Jay was in there at the moment. Jay was in the same grade as us, but he was a month younger, and a hell of a lot different than Adam. People actually liked Jay because he was "nice" or some shit like that. It was fucking stupid.

On the way to the band room, we happened to pass Evan and Shannon. Adam smirked at Evan and blew him a kiss, which just freaked the little fucker out. I laughed at the glare Shannon sent us and wrapped my arm around Adam. That alone pretty much made me want to torment Jeff later when we got home. Tormenting Shannon and Evan was fun, but playing mind games and knocking the stuffing with Jeff was even more fun. His pain, his anguish, his fucking pleas for me to stop…they were a fucking drug.

And I was a mother fucking addict.

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Annabelle

"Bella slow down!" Glenn told me, using his term of endearment for me. He was following me towards Mr. McMahon's office. We were supposed to be going to our computer arts class, but I couldn't do it, so I was making him come with me to try to bail Mark and James out of trouble. "There's probably nothing we can do anyway, so why are you working yourself up like this?"

I didn't answer him. He just wouldn't get it. I felt like I was not going to be able to handle Mark and James both getting suspended again. I just couldn't. If they were suspended again, I would be all alone in a lot of my classes. And I just could not take that. Even though I had known a lot of these people for years now, I couldn't be left alone with them. I just got all paranoid about them staring at me and the things that they said about me behind my back. Because I was not stupid. I knew they talked about what a freak I was. But unlike James, the hostility weighed heavily on me. I knew that it was all in my head, but it didn't change the fact that my chest was so tight that I couldn't breathe and my heart was skipping too many beats to be normal. I was starting to have a full blown panic attack, and I suddenly wished I hadn't forgotten to take my Xanex this morning. I needed it so badly that it wasn't funny.

I stopped walking and put my hand on my chest. I really couldn't breathe right now. My palms were cold and sweaty and I was starting to feel very light headed. "Glenn, I…I…"

"Annabelle! Annabelle! Damn it sis, wake the fuck up!"

I opened my eyes, which felt like I was fighting off giant weights that had been put on them. I was on the floor now, and I was looking up at James, Mark and Glenn. Everything around me sounded muffled and far away; it almost felt like I had gone through another AC/DC concert or something like that.

James sighed and rested his head against mine. "You can't do this to me sis. That shit fucking scares me."

"Sorry," I said weakly. I sat up slowly, clinging to him because I still felt dizzy.

"What the fuck were you trying to do girl?" Mark demanded to know.

"She was trying to stop McMahon from suspending you," Glenn said. "Although I'm not sure she had that well thought out."

James shook his head. "We didn't get suspended. He's giving up on that. Now every time we fuck up, we either have to pay a fine or he'll suspend us and then actually tell our parents for once."

"Oh," I said. I guess that had the potential of working, mainly because of James's philosophy of Caroline being kept in the dark as much as possible. Besides, James and Mark both loved their money, so actually, I was starting to think Mr. McMahon was kind of a genius.

"Do we need to take you home?" Glenn asked.

I shook my head. "Just get me to the nurse's office. Mrs. Carter will let me rest there until I feel better."

"Okay then," James said. He scooped me up into his arms and got back up to his feet. "As long as you're sure that will help."

"It will," I assure him. I rested my head against his shoulder. I was too tired to care about how people would interpret that gesture. Whenever I freaked out to the point that I passed out, I didn't feel good for a good hour or two afterwards. But the feeling would eventually pass, and I would be back to normal soon enough.

Well, as normal as I could get anyway. I was James's sister after all. Insanity was in our blood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

Mr. Ross, my history teacher, kept me back a little after class to talk about my grades and shit like that, which made me late for study hall. I didn't really care about being late in itself, but I didn't like being all alone in the hallways. Sometimes I ran into Adam and Matt when I was alone in the hallways, and they always took advantage of it by messing with me. I hated it so much, but there was nothing I could ever do to make them stop. They lived to torment me.

Just as I was about to turn the corner, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the janitor's closet. A strong hand covered my mouth so I couldn't scream. "Relax," Randy ordered. "It's just me."

The very fact that it was him was more than enough reason to scream, but I quieted down anyway. Randy was not known for controlling his temper and I didn't want to set him off when I was trapped in here with him. "What do you want?" I asked when he finally took his hand off my mouth.

He rolled his eyes and began nuzzling my neck his hands reached up my shirt and started running going all across my chest and stomach. "You know what I want Jeff," he told me. "Why would you even have to ask that?"

I shuddered. I did know what he wanted, and it made me feel sick to my stomach. "Please Randy, don't do this," I begged. I squeaked as I felt his thumbs brush up against my nipples. Chills went up my spine and my breathing started to hitch. I didn't want him to have this effect on me. Yes he was beyond hot, but he was doing this against my will. I didn't want any of this to feel good.

"Come on Jeff, don't be like this," he pouted. He kissed my neck gently while not so innocently brushing his groin up against mine. I gasped and my legs nearly buckled from the contact. He was already getting hard from this. "I've been thinking about you all morning," he told me. He took his hands out from under my shirt and started undoing my belt. "I've been wanting to make you feel real good. Don't you want me to make you feel good?"

No damn it. I just wanted him to leave me alone. I tried to push his hands away, even though I knew he was stronger than I was and he would get the best of me in the end. "Randy please leave me alone. I don't want to do this."

"Sure you do Jeff," he replied. He was acting like I was a complete idiot who had no idea what was about to happen. "You know it feels good." He reached down into my boxers and wrapped his strong hand around my dick. "I don't see why you feel the need to try to lie to me right now." He started rubbing my cock, gently at first, but then a little harder when I kept trying to get away. "You know you always get hard when I do this. It's nothing you need to feel ashamed of. It's supposed to feel good."

I closed my eyes, my face red with shame. I hated Randy for doing this to me. I didn't want my body to enjoy this. I knew this was wrong. He was fucking molesting me. If Matt ever found out, he would beat me within an inch of my life for being a whore. He would think I wanted Randy to do this to me.

My eyes snapped open as I felt Randy's other hand slip down the back of my pants. His fingers were just daring to enter me right then and there. "No," I objected, really not wanting that. "No no no no…."

"Shush now," Randy ordered. "This will feel really good, I promise."

I let out a small sound of pain as he pushed his middle finger deep inside of me. Oh fuck, that hurt like a bitch. I whined as he continued to finger me, hating the way he was probing me but too scared to try to fight my way free. I had heard stories about what happened to people who tried to fight Randy too much. He would beat them up and punt kick them in the head, which was just a very scary thought to me. I didn't want to get kicked in the head. I got beat up enough by Matt and Adam as it was, so I didn't want to add Randy to the list of people who hit me.

"Damn Jeff, you're tight," Randy said with a grin. He slipped another finger inside of me and began roughly stretching me. "God, I can just imagine how tight you would feel around my dick." His eyes suddenly glazed over with a predatory lust. "Let's find out, shall we?"

My eyes widened and I couldn't just stand there and let him do that. I began fighting him as hard as I could, despite the way my ribs were protesting against my effort. But he was too strong for me. He removed his fingers from my ass and pinned me up against the wall way too easily. "Randy stop!" I begged. "Please don't--"

The door to the closet suddenly opened, causing Randy to jump away from me. "James what the hell?" Randy said angrily. "What the fuck do you want?"

James grinned. "I'm interrupting your attempts of sexually assaulting a freshman. I swear, you and Copeland have some sort of weird fetish for the fresh meat."

"I was not going to sexually assault him," Randy protested. "Jeff is here on his own accord."

"Yeah, and I'm normal," James replied. "Come on Orton, don't bullshit me. Jeff looks scared out of his mind. He doesn't want to be here with you. So why don't you do us all a favor and get the fuck out of here?"

Randy glared at me and I shrank back into the corner. If looks could kill, I would so be beyond dead right now.

"Hey, don't fucking look at the fresh meat like that!" James snapped. He sounded like he was really starting to get pissed off. And even by just knowing him from rumors and reputation, I knew that him getting pissed was a very bad thing. "I told you to get lost Randy, so you better fucking do it, or I'll make you a bigger bitch than Hunter did."

Absolutely seething, Randy stormed out of the closet. I sank down to the floor, my legs no longer able to support me. "Thank you," I said quietly.

"Yeah," James said. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back up to my feet. "No problem." He studied me carefully. "Aren't you Matt Hardy's little brother?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I go by Jeff for short."

He chuckled. "Well, just so we're on even footing here, I'm James Lawson." He glanced back at the hallway that was still empty. "How about you fix your jeans and then we go for a walk? I need to get the hell out of here."

"Okay," I said. That suddenly sounded like a great idea. I needed to get the hell out of here anyway. School just wasn't safe anymore.


	4. The Railroad Tracks

James

Jeff and I ended up by the railroad tracks that were just a few blocks down from the school. He still looked completely freaked out, and I didn't blame him. Randy had tried to rape him…fuck, what was wrong with the people at our school? I mean, I killed people, but forcing people to have sex was just not something I could get my head around. It was something I never had the compulsion to do, and it wasn't just because Mark and Annabelle would string me up and cut off my dick and put it in my mouth. When I had been younger (I was about four or five so I had been too young to do anything then), my pig of a father Joseph had used to bring home girls and he would drug them and rape them. The memory of them begging him to stop and the glimpses I sometimes got of him hurting them made me hate rape, which was still something I carried around with me to this day. That was why when I saw Randy grab Jeff on my way to the vending machine (Annabelle had fallen asleep and Mrs. Carter had kicked me, Mark and Glenn out, so I just decided to get a Mountain Dew and Snickers bar), I listened in and stepped in when things sounded like they had been going way too far. I associated that kind of shit with Joseph and I put a stop to it if I could because if I didn't, it opened up too many memories of that asshole.

"Your face looks like it hurts," Jeff said, putting a stop to all of my thoughts.

I frowned. "What?"

He bit his lip nervously. "Your face is all red on the side. It looks like it hurts."

"Oh that. Yeah , it does hurt," I agreed.

"What happened to you?"

"Mom hit me with a pot of coffee."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. She's a bitch like that." I put a cigarette in my mouth and lit it. Annabelle hated it when I smoked, so I always had to do it when she wasn't around. "You want one?" I offered.

Jeff shook his head. "No thanks."

"Suit yourself then." I inhaled deeply before taking the cancer stick out of my mouth and exhaling. "So why does Orton have it out for you?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I wish he would just leave me alone but he never gets the hint."

"Well I think he might get my hint," I said with a grin. "And if he doesn't, I'll beat it into his brain." I took another drag of my cigarette. "So why do you keep grabbing at your ribs? Did Randy hit you there or something?"

"No."

"Well who did then?"

Jeff immediately looked down at his feet, but I still saw the scared look in his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

That immediately told me that Matt was probably the culprit behind that. Him and probably Adam too. I didn't push the subject though. I had just officially met the kid. Who the fuck was I to start pushing him to talk about that kind of shit?

"Your knuckles look all skinned up too," Jeff said timidly.

I looked down at them. "Yeah, I got into a fight this morning."

"With who?"

"Your brother."

He gave a wide eyed look. "Why would you do that?"

"He called my sister a whore," I told him. "Add that to the fact I was already pissed off because of my bitch of a mother, and things just got out of control. It's not like he didn't deserve it though. Your brother is a dick."

"I know he is," Jeff said. He sounded so fucking sad about it. "He didn't use to be that way. But then Mom died and then Adam got his hands on him--"

"Oh please, Copeland is not wearing the pants of that relationship," I said as I shook my head. "Some say Adam warped him but I say he only woke up whatever fucking monster Matt had in him." I took another drag of my cigarette.

"How would you know that?" Jeff asked defensively.

"Because since I'm the kind of freak everyone is scared of, I'm the one who's in the corner watching everything that goes on in that damn school," I replied. "And I see shit that nobody else fucking sees. I've actually seen Matt slap Adam around a couple of times."

Jeff looked surprised by that. "Really?"

I nodded. "And you know what Copeland does about it? Not a fucking thing. You want to know why? Because deep down, he's scared of your brother."

Jeff shoved his hands into his pockets. "Is that supposed to make me feel better or something?"

"I'm just telling you that while Adam is a fucking asshole, your brother is the master of that asshole." I paused and took in what I had just said. "And now I have bad images in my mind that I desperately need to get out of there."

Jeff giggled. It was actually one of the cutest things I had heard in my life. Actually, he was probably the cutest fucking little fresh meat I had seen in a long time. No wonder Orton wanted down his pants; there was probably a whole bunch of people wanting to get a piece of him. "So why did you call me a fresh meat back when you were saving me from Randy?" he asked.

"It's my affectionate term for all freshmen," I answered. "Mark and Glenn use it too."

"Who's Mark?"

"Have you ever seen a big, tall, scary looking biker dude walking around the hallways?"

"Yeah."

"That's Mark. And have you ever seen a tall guy with kind of a fucked up face and his eyes are different colors?"

"Uh huh."

"That's Mark's half brother Glenn."

"Oh. Are you going to college after this year?"

"Fuck no. I'm done after this year. Hell, the only reason I'm still here now is because my sister Annabelle needs me still. She has real bad anxiety attacks and stuff." I threw my cigarette down to the ground and stomped on it. "In fact, she had one a little bit before I saved you. She's probably still sleeping it off in the nurse's office."

"Is she going to go to college?"

"I think she might take online classes from whatever local college is around here. I doubt she'll be able to handle going off to that place alone. People tend to trigger her anxiety and paranoia."

"Oh. That sucks."

"Yeah." I looked over at the abandoned field that was off to our left. That had been where Mark's parents' funeral parlor had been before Mark and I had set it on fire. We had gotten drunk for the first time when we had been thirteen and the small fire we had tried to create just turned into one big blaze that killed Mark's parents and disfigured Glenn. Nobody could actually prove it was us though (we bailed out of there like a couple of mother fuckers as soon as we saw the flames get really out of control) and the worse thing to come out of it was the fact that Glenn had to have reconstructive surgery and he and Mark had to live with Paul Bearer, who was Glenn's real dad.

"Do you think that Randy will come after me again?" Jeff asked. It sounded like that question was tormenting him really badly.

I shrugged. "He might. If he does, you can just tell him that if he doesn't knock it off, I'll kick his fucking ass. He's always been scared of me."

Jeff looked at me with great interest. "I hear a lot of people say they are scared of you. Are you really as bad as people make you out to be?"

"Actually, nobody knows just how bad and scary I can truly be," I admitted. "They've only gotten a little taste of the real me." I patted him on the shoulder. "And I'm just telling you now, if your brother calls my sister a whore, he'll be the one to first one to find out."

"I don't think that will scare him," Jeff warned me. "He's pretty fucking twisted."

"Jeffey boy, I've redefined twisted time and time again. There is no way he can even compare to me." I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, so I pulled it out and looked at it. I had received a text from Annabelle. She was telling me to get my ass back to the nurse's office so I could come with her to lunch. "Fucking sisters," I muttered. I grabbed Jeff by the arm and turned him around. "Come on fresh meat, we've got to go back. I have been paged by my other half." I knew that was probably a bad choice of words because of the incest rumors that were secretly true, but Jeff didn't seem to get it. That probably meant that rumor hadn't made it's way down to the fresh meat section yet. Or maybe it had and he didn't actually believe it or cared. If that was the case, that was pretty refreshing…and more than a little interesting.

I had the feeling this was going to be the start of a very interesting relationship.


	5. The Eyes Tell the Story

James

"So not only did you actually go hang out with a fresh meat, but you hung out with one that just happened to be Matt Hardy's little brother?" Mark asked in disbelief. We were watching _Repo! The Genetic Opera_ upstairs in his room. Annabelle was in the living room watching some little kid movie with Cooper and nobody knew where Glenn had run off to. Paul Bearer was still at work at his new funeral parlor and Annabelle and I were still trying to decide whether we would go home tonight or not. The way I saw it, if I went home, Caroline and I were going to get into it. And if we got into it, I would kill her. And until that rumor about her possibly ditching us for a new boyfriend really pulled through, I didn't want to do anything that could have people suspecting me for my true nature. I actually enjoyed my freedom.

"Yes I hung out with Jeff Hardy," I said as I rolled my eyes. I hated it when he tried to start arguments during this movie (and yes, I already knew that this was going to turn into an argument). Even though I had seen it like a hundred times or something like that, it was one of my movies that I couldn't get tired of. "And the kid was actually kind of cool for a little innocent fresh meat."

Mark shook his head. "We're talking about somebody related to Matt Hardy here," he reminded me. "That little worm--"

"Beats up his little brother," I interrupted. I paused the movie just in case this conversation wasn't going to get wrapped up any time soon. "I can pretty much confirm that now."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No, but he didn't have to. It was so fucking obvious." I pointed to the television. "Now can we please watch the fucking movie?"

Mark grumbled under his breath. He did not look happy with me.

I threw up my hands. "Why are you giving me that look?"

"I am not giving you a look."

"You are too. You're giving me the same look I give you when I see you running around with that Sara cunt or those bitches Morrison and Brooks--who are fresh meats too I might add."

Mark smirked at me. "Ah, so you finally admit that you get jealous."

Oh crap, I probably should have used different examples. "I admitted no such thing," I insisted. "And if I did, then it basically means that you admitted that you get jealous too."

The smirk disappeared really fast off Mark's face. "I do not get jealous," he growled.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you complaining about me hanging out with Jeff? Are you afraid of me taking an interest in him?"

"I am not afraid of anything. And besides from that, I know you've already taken an interest in him. Every time one of us says his name you get that stupid little look in your eyes."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied. That was actually the truth. What the fuck was he going on about? I did not get a stupid little look in my eyes…wait did I? I had to go find out.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Mark asked me as I got up and ran out of the room.

I didn't answer him. I just went into the bathroom and studied my reflection very carefully. "Jeff," I said out loud, keeping a close eye on my own eyes as I said it. I did not see the stupid look that Mark was talking about. "Jeff," I repeated. Still no stupid look.

"Oh you have to be kidding me," Mark said in disbelief. He had gotten off his lazy ass and followed me into the bathroom. "Are you really doing this?"

"Yes," I answered. "And I did not see the look that you were talking about. Therefore, that means you are on crack."

"Wait, who's on crack?" Annabelle asked. She was carrying Cooper and she was giving us a confused look.

"Mark," I said quickly. "Mark is on crack."

"Cra! Cra!" Cooper piped up.

"I am not on crack!" Mark nearly yelled. He went to stand next to Annabelle. "Every time one of says Jeff's name, he gets that fucking look in his eyes."

Annabelle's eyes widened. "You mean the one he gets when he's usually looking at you or me?"

Mark nodded. "That's the one."

Okay, this was not funny. I had absolutely no idea what these fuckers were talking about. "Someone better tell me what the fuck you're talking about, or I swear I will--"

"Sometimes you have the tendency to get this wild, possessive look in your eyes when you like someone," Annabelle explained quickly. "You mostly have it with me and Mark, although I just saw it when Mark said Jeff's name."

I looked back in the mirror for a moment before shaking my head. I still didn't see what they were fucking talking about, and they were starting to piss me off. "You can both just go to hell," I snapped. I took Cooper out of Annabelle's arms and glared at her and Mark. "You can both go to hell and smoke your stupid fucking crack." I stormed out of the room and headed back towards Mark's bedroom. "Come on Cooper, you're going to come watch Repo with me because Mommy and Mark are being fucktards."

"Repo!" Cooper shouted gleefully. He had seen the movie before (much to Annabelle's dismay because it was not meant for little kids) and he always seemed to love it.

"Yeah, that's right, we're watching Repo," I said with a grin. I really did get a kick out of the little kid. And as for Mark and Annabelle's little thoughts about my eyes, I still maintained that I had no idea what they were talking about. That was my story and I was sticking to it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

"Guys, we're supposed to be working on our science project," Evan said impatiently. "This is not working. And I think it was Mr. Green, in the library with the wrench."

I rolled my eyes and showed Evan that it was not in fact Mr. Green. We, along with Shannon, were at Shannon's house playing Clue and occasionally glancing at the crappy Sci-Fi movie that was on TV. Our work for our science project was on Shannon's bed, but we hadn't ever gotten started on it. First we raided the refrigerator, then we watched _Forgetting Sarah Marshall _and _Halloween_ and now we were playing board games. "Come on Ev, chill out a little bit," I ordered. "The thing is not even due to next week. We have plenty of time to work on it."

"Yeah, but we won't do it," Evan replied. "You're never motivated for anything school related, and when Shannon sees that you don't want to do it, he doesn't want to do it either."

Shannon smirked. "I'm always up for doing it Evan. That's never the issue."

Evan smacked his own forehead as I laughed. "That was not what I meant, you dirty pervert!"

Shannon shrugged. "Hey, you set me up for that line Bourne. Don't say shit like that if you don't want me to take advantage of it."

I shook my head. "You're just gearing yourself up because you managed to score yourself a date with Shane, aren't you?" Shane Helms was a junior, and he used to hang around with Matt before Mom died. However, once Matt turned into a jackass, Shane stopped hanging around him and had actually moved away to another town for a few years. But now he was back and apparently interested in Shannon, which I was happy for. If Shane was still the guy I remembered him to be, then my friend was in good hands.

Evan shook his head. "What is it with you guys and older men? Honestly, what is wrong with people our age?"

"They either are assholes or they are taken," Shannon said. "And in my defense, I'm not crushing on a senior who's supposed to be a complete psycho."

I gave Shannon an offended look. "James is not psycho. He's sweet."

"Yeah, I think people actually said the same thing about Ted Bundy."

I smacked him on the arm. "That is not even funny Shanny," I growled. "James fucking saved me from Randy and if you--"

"All I'm saying is that he's supposed to be a complete psycho," Shannon interrupted defensively. "You don't need to get all violent over your new crush."

"I do not have a crush," I denied, even though I was already turning a deep shade of red. Okay, so maybe I had been thinking about how cute James was and maybe I was kind of hoping I would see him again tomorrow, but that did not mean I had a crush. It just meant….okay, maybe I was beginning to have a crush. But I was not going to admit defeat. Shannon would never shut up if I did.

My phone rang suddenly, and I answered it without looking to see who it was. "Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?" Matt snarled. "You were supposed to be home hours ago."

I groaned. Oh shit, why hadn't I looked to see who it was before I answered? "I'm at the library," I lied quickly. "I'm working on stuff for school."

"The library closes at five."

"Only on weekends Matt. It closes on nine on week nights."

"Well it's 9:45 now you stupid shit! So why don't you quit lying to me and tell me where you are?"

I looked at the clock and realized he was right. Time had gotten away from me completely. "Matt calm down," I pleaded. "I--"

"You're probably out whoring yourself out on the street, aren't you?" he snapped irrationally. "You fucking little slut. You get your ass back home right now, or I swear to God, I will come looking for you. And if I have to do that--"

"You'll what? Beat the shit out of me?" I demanded to know. "You'll do that even if I come home willingly, so it really doesn't matter what I do, now does it?" I knew I was going to regret talking back to him like this, but I absolutely hated the way he was screaming about me being a slut. Just the way he would say it made me feel dirty, even though the farthest I had gone with a guy was being forced to give Randy the occasional blow job.

"Jeff, you better knock this shit off right now, or I fucking swear to God, I'll make you wish you were fucking dead."

"I already do wish I was dead!" I yelled. "And I fucking wish you were dead too so you could burn in hell!" I hung up the phone and tossed it across the room before jumping up to my feet and running out of Shannon's room and going into the bathroom. I ignored Evan and Shannon and just grabbed on to the bathroom sink, so freaked out that I was about to throw up. I really had just screwed myself big time. I had never hung up on Matt before because I knew how angry it had made him. Add in to the fact that he had been pissed with me to begin with, and there was just no way I could go home now. I wouldn't fucking make it through the night with the mood he was in.

I ignored Shannon and Evan's knocking and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I could see just how freaked out I was by looking at my own eyes. I had never realized just how badly Matt truly scared me until now. I was fucking terrified of my own brother, and I had every right to be. Matt was crazy, and he would eventually get me alone. And when he did that, I was fucking doomed.


	6. Wrecked

Matt

I was fucking furious at Jeff for hanging up on me. Who did that little shit think he was? Did he think he was going to get away with that? Because if he did, he was sorely fucking mistaken. I would punish him for his defiance…but not tonight. He would be expecting that, so the chances were that he wasn't coming home. If he did, I planned on getting him, but I wouldn't hunt him down and drag him home. The odds were that he was hiding out at Shannon or Evan's house, and if I dragged him home from there, a scene would be caused and then someone who would actually do something about my treatment of Jeff would do it. And I couldn't have that. What would I do if I didn't have my Jeff to torment?

Adam stumbled around the room, almost knocking some shit over as he did so. He had drank a few too many beers so now he was kind of drunk. "I want Jeff to come home," he slurred out. He tried to pick up the things he had knocked over, but he just ended up knocking more stuff over. "I want to play with Jeff."

I scowled. He always wanted to play with Jeff. He was really starting to piss me off with this shit. I hadn't even punished him for fucking Evan without my permission; I was going to beat the shit out of him, but when I saw how much it had upset Jeff, I had let Adam go unscathed. But now I felt like I was losing control of him. He was going to rape Jeff whether I told him to or not, which made me angry. I was the one who was calling the shots here. I was the one who was in control. I think Addy needed reminding of that.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Adam whined. He could get very fucking annoying when he drank too much. "You look all fucking cranky."

"Maybe I am cranky," I replied. I sat back in my chair and just glared at him.

"Oh Matty, don't be cranky," Adam told me. He stumbled over to me and plopped down on my lap. His breath fucking reeked of booze; it almost made me want to throw up. "Come on baby, we can have some fun," he said, one of his hands trying to make its ways down my jeans. "We can make our own fun until Jeff gets home."

"And then what? Are you going to have fun with him then?" I asked before shoving his ass down to the floor. "Huh? Is that what you're going to do?"

Adam glared at me before getting up. "Maybe I should," he said defiantly. "He's probably a lot more fun than you are."

I got to my feet and backhanded him hard enough to send him back down to the floor. "Yeah, well what if I don't feel like giving you permission to play with him? What are you going to do then? Will you fuck him like you did Evan?" I kicked him in the ribs really, really hard. "You already tempted fate once when you fucked someone without asking me. Do you really want to try that again?"

Adam shook his head. He wasn't looking at me. He was curled up in the fetal position, his eyes closed and he was wheezing from the pain he was in. It was easier to beat him when he was drunk. The booze fucked up his stubborn streak and slowed his reflexes to the point where he was just like Jeff: a helpless, whining, sniveling little fuck. Only he wasn't nearly as pretty or as fun to play with as Jeff was.

I walked over to my closet and opened it up. There was a box in the corner of it filled with my special toys. Jeff had never seen those (he knew better than to look through my stuff) but it was time that I started bringing those out. _I will get you Jeff. I fucking promise you that. And when I do, you'll not only scream for me: you'll fucking bleed for me as well._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

The fact that Matt did not ever come hunt me down scared the shit out of me. I knew that fucking meant that he was bidding his time and planning something really nasty to do to me. I was so scared that I didn't even go home; I stayed right there at Shannon's all night. I pretended to leave with Evan, but then I hid in the bushes until Mr. and Mrs. Moore went to bed. Then I climbed in through Shannon's window and laid in his room all night. I didn't get any real sleep out of the whole deal; every time I managed to drift off, I had nightmares about what Matt could possibly do to me and I woke right back up. At about six in the morning, I snuck back out the window and hid in the bushes again till about seven. Then I came in through the front door, pretending I was looking for a ride to school. I really didn't want to go to school, but if they called saying I was truant, it would give Matt even more ammo to work with when he did eventually get his hands on me.

Of course, once I got to school, it wasn't exactly easy for me. I fell asleep in algebra and had a nightmare there, and when I ended up jerking awake so violently that I fell out of my sleep. That made everyone except Evan and Mr. Adamle laugh, which was very embarrassing. Then, on the way to history, Chris Jericho intentionally pushed me when I was going down the stairs, and I ended up knocking like six people during my fall. I ended up falling on Maria Kanellis, who was nice and all (even though the poor thing was dumb as a post) but she didn't understand the concept of me being gay and she either accidentally or on purpose groped me when we were trying to get back up. I apologized to her and then ran off, once again getting laughed at in the process. Add in the fact that I was constantly looking over my shoulder for Matt and Adam, and I was pretty much a wreck by the time lunch rolled around.

"I can't do this anymore," I moaned as I leaned against my locker. I was with Evan, Shannon and Shane. "I can't keep doing this. I feel like I'm about to be sick."

Evan put his arms around me sympathetically. "What do you want us to do Jeff? Do you want us to have Dave follow you around to your classes like he did that one time? He'll do it if we ask him to. You know he won't let anyone fuck with you."

I shook my head. "Coach Finaly will go psycho on him if he skips all of his classes again. I don't want him getting in trouble on my account."

"Maybe you should just go to Linda," Shannon suggested. Linda was Mr. McMahon's wife and she just happened to be a counselor at the school. "She can get you away from Matt for good."

"By doing what? Having me go live with different relatives? The ones that are anywhere near here don't want me. Besides, Matt could get me still with them. And I don't think I could handle foster care."

Shane shook his head. "Jeff, it would be Matt that would get sent away, not you."

I looked down at my feet. "Yeah, but what if that doesn't happen? What if I tell people and Matt somehow doesn't get in enough trouble that will keep him away from me forever? He'll really hurt me then."

The others all just exchanged looks. I knew they were just concerned and they were scared for me, but I knew they were starting to lose patience with me protecting Matt. I was tired of it too, but I was too scared to try to change my situation. If it backfired on me, I was going to be even more screwed than I had ever been in the first place. "I have to get out of here," I muttered as I quickly took off. I needed to get away from everyone for awhile. I couldn't take them looking at me anymore. It was driving me crazy.

In my haste to get away from everyone, I ended up tripping over my own feet and nearly falling down once again. But this time someone grabbed my by the waist and kept me from hitting the ground. "Damn Jeffey, you have to be careful. You know how crazy this hallway gets when it's lunch time. You could have just been trampled right now."

I managed a very small smile. It was hard because my heart was beating way too hard inside my chest and it felt like I was going to faint at any minute. "It's nice to see you too James."

James frowned just a little bit. "Why do you look so freaked out? You look like you've been seeing ghosts or something."

"I think ghosts might be better than what I've been dealing with."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I just need to get out of here for awhile."

"Okay, let's go."

I looked at him in surprise. "You really want to go with me?"

"Yeah, why not?" James pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "I even swiped Mark's extra set of car keys from him when he wasn't looking, so today we have wheels." He grabbed me by the hand and didn't even wait for me to say anything else. He just pulled me along, right out of the school and all the way to Mark's parking lot. "Now you might want to buckle up," he warned me as we got in. "I've been told that I drive just a little too fast."

That was the understatement of the year. He backed out of the space so fast that he nearly hit the row of cars behind us. Then he nearly ran over a couple of cheerleaders as he raced out of the parking lot. "Holy crap!" I yelled. "James slow down! You're going to hit something!"

"No I'm not," James denied.

Just two seconds later, he hit a trash can, spilling its contents everywhere.

He grinned sheepishly. "We're going to forget that happened."

I just nodded along and held on to my seat tightly. I wasn't even concerned about us getting pulled over; I was more worried about him killing us. _Then again, if I die right now, then I won't have to worry about Matt anymore. That would be nice._

James took us through the Burger King drive-thru, and even though I tried to tell him that I didn't want anything, he got me food anyway. "You are way too skinny for your own good," he informed me. "If a tornado were to hit right now, it would carry you the fuck away because you are so damn skinny."

I thought about telling him that eating would probably not save me from a tornado, but I decided not to. He probably did not care about the logic of that. Besides, I had felt a warm tingly feeling when he handed me the bag of food because our fingers just happened to touch. I quickly looked out the window and hoped to God that he did not see me blushing.

We ended up going to a secluded little park up on a hill. "This isn't too far from my house," James said as we sat down at one of the picnic tables. "Annabelle and I used to hide up here all the time when we were little."

"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked as I put a French fry in my mouth. As it turned out, I was a tiny bit hungrier than I thought I was.

James reached down towards his ankle. Just a couple of seconds later, he pulled up a very large hunting knife. "I had this for protection. Believe me, nothing ever happened to us."

I stared at the hunting knife with wide eyes. The thing was fucking huge and it looked like it was really, really sharp. "You bring that thing to school?"

"Yeah," he admitted. He put the knife back down to wherever he had it hidden before. "I always have it with me."

"Aren't you afraid that the teachers will take it away before expelling you?"

He snorted. "If they ever tried to take my knife, they would get their fingers cut off."

I nibbled on my hamburger just a little bit. I didn't know whether he was joking about that or not, and I didn't feel like asking. "Matt used to take me to the park all the time," I said sadly. "But that was before he got mean."

James picked at his hamburger a little bit. "I think I used to see you two at a park whenever Annabelle and I used to have to go to our grandparents house. You two looked happy."

"We were," I said softly. I looked down at my food. I wasn't hungry anymore. "I don't think he's ever going to stop being mean to me. He's just going to keep getting worse and worse." I closed my eyes tightly. "I don't know what to do. How can I make him stop and leave me alone?"

"You could kill him."

My eyes snapped open and I stared at James in shock. "What?"

James just shrugged. "It's just a suggestion. I know I don't know all the details of whatever he's been doing to you, but he would probably deserve it, don't you think?"

I looked away. I didn't know what to think honestly. I doubted it very much that I could kill Matt. Even if I could get up the courage to even try it, I would probably lose the stomach for it while I was attempting it. The possibility of even seeing someone else's blood made me queasy. Then I realized I was actually contemplating murder, and I felt like a bad person. I could go to jail if I ever got caught and it wouldn't be what Mom and Dad would want me to do. _But they're dead_, a dark little voice told me. _So why do they matter anymore? Besides, it's wrong for Matt to hurt you and he does it anyway. Why shouldn't you get him back?_

James didn't say anything more about killing Matt. He made small talk for awhile and then got me playing on the playground equipment. It was a nice distraction and it felt good to be away from the school and to be with someone who made me feel safe. But in the very deepest and darkest parts of my brain, his earlier suggestion was still repeating itself over and over again…and it was becoming more and more appealing by the second.


	7. Not So Good Surprises

James

After school that day, I met Mark by his car. "You can't fucking take this thing without telling me," he growled as he glared at me. He was eyeing the "damage" I had done when I had hit the trash can earlier. "One of these days you're going to wreck it and then I'm going to be paying more money on my insurance than your fucking life is worth."

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around him. "Oh come on Marky, don't be mad at me. Jeff and I just wanted to get away for awhile."

He glared at me as I said that. "You didn't fuck the fresh meat in my car, did you? Because I will fucking kick your ass if you did."

"No you dumb fuck. I did not fuck Jeff in this car. We just got some food and went to that one park that's by my house."

"Wow, how romantic." Mark leaned back against his car. "If you like your fresh meat so much, why don't you go hang out with him?"

"Because I'm going to hang out with you and I didn't want to hear your snide comments for bringing him along," I snapped. I was getting really tired of him being an asshole. Our fighting was starting to get worse than it usually did. I didn't know whether it was because he was feeling neglected or what, but I was almost done dealing with it entirely. _That's the nice thing about hanging out with Jeff,_ I thought to myself as I kicked a pebble across the parking lot. _He doesn't act like an enormous asshole like Mark and he doesn't nag like Annabelle does._

"Oh fuck, are you two fighting again?" Glenn asked as he approached us. "Because if you are, I'll fucking just walk home."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Where the hell is Annabelle?" I asked. "She's supposed to be with you."

"Calm down Lawson," Glenn said. He pointed over towards the building that housed the band room, the orchestra room, the choir room, the girl's locker room and the new gym that had just been added last year. "She wanted some alone time with someone over there."

I looked to where he was pointing. To say I was shocked by who he was pointing to would be the understatement of the year. My sister--my people phobic sister who couldn't function in a class without one of us with her--was talking to Dave Batista of all people. And not only was she talking to him, but she was giving him a look that I did not like at all. "What?" I said in complete disbelief. "How? What?"

Mark shook his head. "You took the words right out of my mouth." He looked over at Glenn. "Do you care to tell us how this interesting little development came about?"

Glenn shrugged. "Dave got switched into our cooking class and they always ended up talking to each other."

"And you didn't stop her because?" I demanded to know.

He gave me an exasperated look. "I'm her friend, not her boss. She likes Dave and he likes her. Besides, it's not good for her mental health to be so attached to you."

I glared at him. I was literally just seconds from gutting him right then and there. How could he even think that this was a good idea? Annabelle was mine. Dave couldn't have her. It wasn't fair for him to steal her from me.

After a couple of minutes, Annabelle finished up her conversation with the Animal (Coach Finlay had given him that nickname) and she came over to us. Her cheeks were bright red and she had the biggest smile on her face. "Hi guys," she said cheerfully.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked immediately.

"Oh boy, here we go," Mark muttered.

Annabelle's smile faltered a little bit. "What?"

"What were you talking to Dave about?"

"Oh, that." She blushed furiously. "He asked me out on a date…and I accepted. We're going out tomorrow night."

I just stared at her for a couple of minutes, barely processing what I had just heard. "Are you fucking joking right now?" I finally said.

She looked hurt by that question. "No. Why would I be joking?"

"You can't go out on a date with Dave. He's a moron."

"Actually, Dave is a pretty cool dude," Glenn chimed in.

Mark had to restrain me from smacking him. "Brother dearest, I think it's best if you just keep your mouth shut," he said. "Now is not the time to add your two cents."

"No, Glenn is right," Annabelle said. "Dave has been nothing but sweet to me and I like him. I want to give him a chance."

"To what? Charm you to taking your clothes off and spreading your legs?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Annabelle's jaw dropped in shock for a second but then it clenched shut in anger. Before I could even begin to try to backtrack, I got a nice right hook to the jaw. I cussed in pain and stumbled back a little bit. I knew I deserved that. "I'm not your property James!" she said angrily. "You can't keep doing this to me James!"

"I never said you were my property!" I said defensively. "And what the hell are you even talking about?"

"Every time I even have an interest in someone that's not you, you freak out and try to put a stop to it!" she replied. "I don't trust people very often enough to want to go out on a date with them, and every other guy I tried this with before has even gotten a chance because you won't let me go."

"I have not done that," I denied, even though it was a lie. I knew damn well that I had done that and honestly, I was dead set against this date that had been set up.

She shook her head. She didn't seem to notice that we were attracting a crowd of gawkers. "Dave isn't Dad James. He's not going to hurt me the way Dad wanted to before you claimed me as yours. You can let me go just a little bit."

"And what if I don't want to?" I replied. "What then? And what's going to happen if things on the date don't go well and you're all alone with someone you're not comfortable with and you start having one of your panic attacks--"

"Don't drag my condition into this!" she yelled. She looked like she was about to cry because she was so frustrated with me. "I've already asked myself that question over and over again and I decided that it was a risk worth taking."

I looked away from her and sent the people watching a glare that caused them to run away. It didn't seem like Annabelle was budging on this at the moment. I thought about getting more into her head and making her change her mind but I just walked away from her instead. That would just cause more problems in the long run and I didn't want her to start hating me. The thought of killing Dave entered my mind, but I tried to repress it. That would lead to more trouble and possibly even damage my relationship with Annabelle for good. _I need to go find myself a homeless person to kill,_ I thought as I shoved my hands into my pocket. _That will make me feel better. It usually does anyway._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Adam

I tapped my foot impatiently. Matt and I were hiding out at his house with all the lights off and the curtains closed. His car was parked all the way up at my house. We were hoping to trick Jeff into thinking that we weren't here so he would at least come in the fucking house. If we could get him in here, then we would be all set for having some fun at his expense. "I can't believe you fucking left a bruise," I complained to Matt as I gingerly touched my face. The fucker had left a bruise from where he had smacked me last night.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Would you stop complaining about it? It's not even that bad."

I glared at him. He had been such an asshole ever since Jeff had hung up on him. It was driving me crazy. "Why are you being such a fucking prick to me?" I asked. "I'm not the one who pissed you off. Your little bitch of a brother did that."

"I know, but he's not here right now," he replied. "I have to take my anger out on someone."

"Fuck you," I snapped. I got up and started walking away from him. "I'm not your fucking punching bag Matt."

I didn't know he had gotten up until he grabbed me by the wrist and slammed me up against the wall. "Oh baby, don't get all pissy with me," he said quietly. He gently brushed a piece of hair out of my face. "You know I'm just mad. I'll be okay once we have fun with Jeff."

"You better," I said. "Because I don't fucking like getting hit by you."

"I know you don't baby," he replied. He kissed me gently. "I promise I'll try to be nicer."

I started to respond to that when we heard the front door opening. We exchanged looks before ducking into Jeff's room. I hid behind the door while Matt went into the closet. We could hear Jeff creeping up the stairs and I held my breath as he came into the room. "I'll just get my stuff and leave again before he gets home," he muttered to himself. "Get in, get out, not get hurt. That can't be that hard."

I smirked and jumped out of my hiding place, putting one of my hands over his mouth before he could scream. Matt stepped out of the closet and Jeff let out a muffled moan as he began to struggle. "So what were you saying Jeffey?" I asked cruelly. I smirked as he whined. Oh this was going to be so much fun.


	8. Punishment

Jeff

I whimpered as I struggled to get free from Adam's grip. Fuck, this hadn't been supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to be here. Matt's car had been at Adam's house. I had seen it there with my own eyes. That was why I had come in here alone. I had just wanted to get some of my stuff so I could stay at Shannon's again. I had wanted to avoid Matt's wrath. But of course, the universe had fucked me over again because here he was, looking at me like he wanted to kill me. And there was nobody who could save me or help in any way. Dave and Shane were at football practice, Evan was in band practice, Shannon was at the dentist and James didn't even know where I lived. Besides, even if he did, he was supposed to be going somewhere with Mark today. That was why I didn't even think about him disturbing him with my own shit. I hadn't wanted to be a burden.

"You know, I wasn't quite sure if this was going to work or not," Matt said as he punched me in the stomach. "But it's nice to see that you're just as stupid as ever." He punched me again, pretty much guaranteeing some broken ribs because they were still injured from the night before.

I groaned in pain, closing my eyes in an attempt to stop myself from crying. It was a hard thing to do because it hurt so fucking bad. But I knew tears just egged Matt on more, so I tried to keep them at bay.

Adam took his hand off my mouth so Matt could punch me in the face several times as hard as he could. I whimpered with each blow. I really must have set him off because he wasn't even going to try to hide the fact that I got a beating. I pretty much knew right then and there that I wasn't going to be able to go to school tomorrow. The bruises alone would force me to stay home so questions wouldn't be asked and I didn't even want to think about the fact this meant I probably wouldn't even be able to move tomorrow. I didn't want to think about how much worse this could possibly get.

"You made him bleed Matty," Adam said gleefully. He licked the blood right off the cut above my eyebrow, which made me shudder in revulsion. I looked at Matt, who was watching the both of us with an unreadable expression on my face. I tried to slip out of Adam's grasp again but I froze when I felt his hardness pressing up against me. Oh fuck, that was not good. That was not good at all.

"Are you getting turned on Adam?" Matt asked slowly.

Adam nodded. "I can't help it Matt. Look at him. His fear is a work of art."

Matt tilted his head to the side and stared at me with his cold eyes. I could just tell he was planning something that I wasn't going to like at all. "Do you want him to suck you off Adam?" he finally asked.

"No," I whined desperately. There was no way I could do that. Adam fucking disgusted me. The thought of even seeing his dick made me want to puke. "Matt please, don't make me do that. I'll be good from now on, I promise."

Adam grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked on it a little bit. "Would you let me make him baby?" he asked with a pout he probably considered to be sexy. "His mouth would feel so good around my dick."

"Alright," Matt agreed. "I'll do this just for you babe."

I did not want this dick sucking thing to go down at all. Evan had barely been able to talk after Adam forced him to give him a blowjob and I wanted no part of that. Out of pure desperation, I stomped on Adam's toe hard enough for him to loosen his grip and then I elbowed him in the stomach before I bolted for the door. I almost got out of the bedroom but Matt grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back in. I screamed for help, but then the back of my head connected with the wall so hard that I almost went unconscious. Groaning in pain, I couldn't fight Matt off as he forced me down on to my knees.

"Oh Jeffey," he said with a shake of his head. "You really shouldn't have done that. Now you've just made me even more upset than I was in the first place."

Adam unzipped his jeans and then pulled his cock out with a sadistic little grin on his face. He was absolutely loving this. I tried to keep my lips tightly closed as he shoved his dick towards my face, but Matt yanked on my hair until I cried out in pain and Adam took advantage of that by shoving his dick right on in. I choked as it hit the back of my throat, but I got very little chance to breathe because he began thrusting in and out of me at a brutal pace. I wanted to bite down or at least try to pull my head away, but with Matt keeping such a tight grip on me, I was afraid to try either of those things.

"Fuck, his mouth is so fucking sweet," Adam grunted. "You ought to give him a try Matt. You would absolutely love him."

I choked yet again as his seed shot down my throat. Matt pulled my head away and put his hand over my mouth before I could spit. "Swallow it," he demanded.

I shook my head. I absolutely hated the taste of it and I was going to throw up if I swallowed it.

Matt gave me a dangerous look. "You better fucking swallow it Jeff."

I reluctantly did what I was told, gagging as I did so. I hated him so much at the moment that I probably couldn't put it into words. I actually hated him more than Adam. Adam wasn't my own fucking brother. He wasn't betraying me by doing this.

"Don't give me that fucking look," Matt snapped. He dragged me to his room (and I do mean that literally because he made sure to give me a decent size carpet burn along the way). It wasn't until he was by his bed that he picked me up and tossed me on it. "You know you fucking deserve this."

"For what?" I asked in a strained voice. It hurt to talk because Adam had been so rough with me. "What did I ever do to you Matty? Why do you hate me so much?"

"You fucking got Dad killed," he replied. "If you wouldn't have been so damn forgetful, he wouldn't have had to turn around and then our car wouldn't have gotten hit by that drunk driver."

"But you hated me before that," I whined. A few tears escaped me and I hated myself for it. "You've hated me since Momma died. I didn't kill Momma. The cancer did that."

He didn't say anything in response. He just reached into his dresser drawer and pulled out a set of handcuffs. I immediately tried to run again and he tackled me back down on to the bed. We struggled for a few minutes, but I lost. I always fucking lost when I fought him. "Matt please, let me go," I begged as he handcuffed my wrists to his headboard. I was on my stomach so I couldn't see him. "Please, you're going too far with this. You're scaring me here."

"Shut up," he snapped. He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut my shirt off my body. I stayed perfectly still, very afraid about him having a sharp weapon in his hands. Then I heard him walk to the other side of the room. I tried to look and see what he was doing, but I couldn't see him.

"Oh you're using that one?" Adam asked gleefully. He had decided to join us again. "Oh boy, this is going to be brutal."

I felt the blood drain out of my face. I couldn't even ask what was going to be brutal. I just tried to yank myself free from the handcuffs. They were so tight though that I felt my wrists start to bleed almost immediately. Still, I kept trying until I felt the whip being brought down across my back. I froze up immediately and let out a scream of pain. I almost wished I was blowing Adam again. The pain of him raping my throat had been nothing compared to this.

"Cat of nine tails," Adam said in appreciation. "Your back is going to be whipped raw Jeffey."

I sobbed as Matt kept whipping me over and over again. My throat was in agony from my continued screams, but I couldn't help myself. The pain…it was too much…I could feel the skin being taken off my back and it was more than I could take. And did Matt care? No. He fucking just kept whipping me over and over again until I just cried softly because I lost my voice. I cried so fucking hard that I felt like I was going to pass out, and then either Adam or Matt hit me on the back of the head hard enough to send me to the send me into the sweet blackness that would keep me from feeling any more pain for awhile.


	9. Victims

James

I didn't actually get home till after midnight. I found three homeless people and one runaway down by the railroad tracks and I tricked them into following me into an old shack on the outskirts of town. It was a hideout that Mark and I used several occasions, so I knew it was safe. Once there, I tied them all up and I tortured all of them. Mark showed up after a couple of hours and he joined me, and he even enjoyed himself, which was a rare thing. Mark definitely hated humanity as much as I did, but he was more cold blooded than I was, so him getting joy out of any kind of murder and mayhem we caused was a rare thing. I stood by the accusation that he chose to be a miserable asshole because he hated being happy, but I didn't voice it today. I was more interested in the runaway. Her name was Ashley Massaro and something about her intrigued me. It wasn't anything sexual; the only girl I liked remotely in that way was Annabelle (and that was a source of major problems I was trying to forget). But for reasons I couldn't explain to myself or Mark (who looked like I was crazy for not wanting to kill her when we killed the homeless dudes), I took her home with me. I kept her all tied up and I gagged her mouth so she wouldn't be heard as I carried her through my dark house and went down to the basement. "You know, I almost think Mark looked kind of mad that I wanted to come here with you instead of come home with him," I told her as I tossed her down to the floor. "But I wanted to talk to you a little bit by myself. Mark never has the patience to have a real heart to heart with anyone, not even me. It's kind of frustrating."

Ashley just stared up at me with wide, tearful eyes. She looked absolutely scared to death (which, to be honest, she had every reason to be). Her blonde hair, which only had black and pink streaks in it when I originally found her, now was matted down with blood. Her clothes were torn in several places and the wounds I had inflicted earlier were covered in dried blood. She made a muffled plea that made me roll my eyes.

"Dumbass, you can't talk with your mouth covered in duct tape." I ripped the tape right off her mouth, which made her whimper in pain. "There we go, now you can talk."

"Please let me go," she begged. "I won't tell anyone about this, I swear! Just please, don't kill me."

I sighed and sat down next to her. "Why do you people always think that your silence is going to buy your freedom?" It was a question that I had been wondering for years now. "If I wanted to set you free, I wouldn't have kidnapped you in the first place."

She started sobbing openly now and I rubbed my temples. I probably should have kept her gagged. "Look, would you stop that?" I finally asked. "That's getting very annoying." I forced her to sit up and I shook her a little bit. "Come on, I want to talk to you right now. You don't want me to get bored and start having to play with you like I did with those other people, now do you?"

That made Ashley try to get a hold of herself. It took her a couple of minutes, but she managed to stop sobbing. "What do you want from me?" she asked quietly.

"Why did you run away?" It was the most obvious question I could ask at the moment.

She stared at me in confusion before slowly replying. "I fell in love with a boy my parents didn't like."

"Who was this boy?"

"His name was Paul London."

"And why did your parents not like him?"

"They said he was a bad influence on me. But I was in love with him and I agree to run away with him. We were supposed to get married."

"Supposed to?"

"I found him cheating on me the other day." Ashley wiped some tears away. "I gave him everything and he just threw it all away for some bimbo named Sara."

I raised my eyebrows. Mark had kind of been seeing a girl named Sara on the side and I wondered if it was the same girl. If it was, I was so going to exaggerate the story and make her out to be the biggest slut of the century. I fucking hated her and wanted her away from Mark. "Wow, that was fucking dumb of you to do," I informed you. "You would have been better off staying home with your parents."

"Yeah, I guess so," she admitted.

I patted her on the shoulder. "I just want you to know that this isn't actually personal. It's just what I do."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know how to do anything else."

"But--"

I slit her throat quickly, just to get it over with. I didn't feel like torturing her or talking anymore, so I figured it was best to just let her die.

The basement door opened suddenly and down came Caroline. She didn't look especially pleased with me. "What the hell are you doing down here?" she snarled. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Hello to you Caroline," I replied. I got to my feet and started looking for my ax, a trash bag and the mop. I had to clean the mess up now. "I'm glad to once again that you're unpleasant no matter what time of the day or night it is."

She glared at me. "I told you not to be doing that shit in my house."

"Well I figured that since I actually pay for everything, then I can damn well do what I please." I found what I needed and then started chopping Ashley's body into little pieces so I could get it all in the trash bag. "Maybe if you would stop being a worthless cunt, then…wait, what am I saying? You'll never stop being a worthless cunt. It's too much in your nature."

She chuckled humorlessly. "Oh yes, I'm the one who's a problem. Why am I not surprised by that?"

"You are the damn problem," I told her. "You've always been the problem."

"Whatever." She gave me a smug little smile. "I heard Annabelle talking on the phone with someone named Dave. She's still planning on going out with him, even after the temper tantrum you apparently threw. I have to ask, just how does it feel to be losing control of her? It must just eat you alive."

I glared at her. "Shut up Caroline."

"Do you think you'll be able to keep your temper in check? Or will you kill Dave for touching her? Or would you even take it one step further and kill her so nobody else could have her? Because that's what you are James. You're a killer. You don't know how to be human. And every attempt you make at it is just going to fail miserably, so why don't you just give up already?" Smirking, Caroline went back upstairs.

I just stood there, staring at where my mother had just been. Fucking bitch was the only person who could make me freeze with just her words. Yelling angrily, I tossed the ax across the room and then leaned back against the wall. I fucking hated her. She needed to go. I couldn't take this anymore. I wanted to go and do it right then and there, but my legs refused to move. It was amazing how one bitch managed to make me feel like an insignificant child. It also drove me insane. "Just wait Mommy Dearest," I whispered. "I'll show you just how much of a killer I really am. And then you'll be sorry. Oh you'll be so sorry but it'll be too late because nothing will save you once I get you. I guarantee you that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

It was dark when I finally woke back up. My body was in extreme pain, but at least I was out of the handcuffs. Whimpering, I looked over to see that Matt was in the bed with me. Adam was nowhere in sight. We stared at each other for the longest time and his expression started to change. There was still hatred in his eyes, but there was something else mixed in with it that I didn't quite recognize. Whatever it was though, I didn't like it.

"Adam went home," he told me. Like I fucking cared. "His mother called and bitched at him until he went. We're all alone here."

I winced. I could smell the whiskey on his breath. I hated it when he drank. He had the tendency to become even more of a monster when he did. "Why can't you leave me alone?" I asked quietly. "Why do you have to do this stuff to me?"

He didn't answer me. He just stared at me with a hungry look on his face. "So many boys are after you Jeffey," he said quietly. It was becoming more and more obvious that he was really, really drunk. "Do you have any idea what you do to people?" His eyes darkened dangerously. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

I stared at him fearfully. "What are you talking about?" The question was hard to ask because I was afraid of the answer. The look he was giving me was almost like the one Adam and Randy liked to give me, only it was a lot more sinister.

Matt forced me to turn over on my back. I whined and tried to fight him off. My back hurt so badly that the lightest touch brought me to tears, so being forced to lay on it was more than I could stand. But all my efforts ceased when he started unbuckling my pants. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Did you honestly think anyone else was going to break you in? Come on Jeff, that's just crazy."

I stared at him in shock as the meaning of his words began to sink in. Oh my God, he couldn't be serious. He couldn't want to do that. No, he was just trying to scare me. That was it. He just wanted to scare me.

My heart just about stopped when he yanked my pants off and then worked on getting his own off. I immediately tried to escape, but he got me pinned back down easily. "Matt stop!" I yelled, yelping when he squeezed my wrists so hard that it felt like he was going to break them. "Please Matt, don't!" I tried to kick at him but I had no energy in my body to put any real force behind my attack.

Matt just stared at me with a sinister grin. "So pretty…pretty Jeffey…you always were the pretty one."

I let out a scream as he entered me. No prepping, no lube, nothing that would make it bearable. The pain that shot up my back made me go still because it just about paralyzed me. I sobbed as he set a hard and brutal pace. I could feel myself tearing and ripping because of his size. Fuck, he was too fucking big. My asshole began to burn as it was fucked raw, and all I shut my eyes tightly and turned my head to the side. I could feel Matt biting and kissing at my face and neck, and it only added to my pain. "Matt stop…please stop…it hurts…"

"Good," he grunted. "I like that it hurts you. It makes me so fucking hot."

I sobbed at his words, feeling sick to my stomach. My wrists were going numb from losing circulation, but that was the least of my worries. I could feel my insides being stabbed with every thrust he made, and I could feel my blood now lubing his dick. I shut my eyes tighter, wishing that this was a nightmare but knowing it wasn't. Nightmares didn't hurt like this.

He pulled out suddenly and then I felt him cum all over my chest and face. I flinched, but was too weak to do anything else. Chuckling to himself, I heard him roll off the bed and then walk out of the room. Still crying, I opened my eyes before crying even harder. I had just been raped by my brother of all people. Feeling dirty, I turned over on my side, curled up into the fetal position and just cried until I passed out yet again.


	10. Deadly Promises

Matt

I woke up on the couch the next morning. It took me a little bit to remember what the hell I had done the previous night. When I did remember it, I just laid there and thought about it for awhile. I fucked my own little brother. I made him bleed and scream. The memory of it was enough to start making me hard all over again. I glanced at the clock. I had about forty five minutes until I had to go pick Adam up so we could pretend to go to school. What we were actually doing that day was going up to this spot by the river with Jericho, Ziggler, William Regal, the freaky Russian foreign exchange student Vladimir Kozlov and the new kid Ezekiel Jackson. The spot was pretty secluded and a good place just to sit and drink beer and smoke some weed. I was hoping to spend the whole day there--but first I had something else I needed to do.

I got off the couch and went upstairs to my room. Jeff was still on my bed, whimpering in his sleep. His blood stained my sheets, but I didn't mind because I liked the sight of it. I could see the welts on his back and I knew he wouldn't be able to wear a shirt comfortably for several weeks. He may had even sustained permanent scars from my whip. His stomach and face were all bruised up from where I had punched him. He was purple, swollen and it was a real work of art.

I sat down on the bed and lightly touched his face. His eyes snapped open immediately, and he began whimpering even more. "No," he begged as he tried to shield himself away from me. "Please Matty, no more. No more."

I smirked. "Aw, what's the matter Jeff? Don't you want to play with me anymore?"

He shook his head. Tears were running down his face now. He was absolutely terrified of me now. And I didn't blame him one little bit. He had every reason to be afraid of me.

"You did this to me you know," I said softly. "You made me sick in the head. Mom went away and all you did was get all dependant on me. You whined and cried and acted like I was supposed to be Mom. You'd crawl into my bed and night and hang on to me, making my body react in ways it shouldn't. I never acted on it before because it scared me. But I used to dream of hurting you and over the past few years, I've been slowly giving in to what I really want to do to you. Last night…" I just stopped and gently kissed him on the lips, "was just the beginning Jeffey."

Jeff whined and tried to push me away as I kissed him again. I settled myself in between his legs, not really hearing any of the pleas he was using to make me stop. I bit his lower lip really hard as I pushed myself back inside of him, earning an agonizing scream for my efforts. I licked up the blood from his lip, enjoying the taste of it immensely. I could feel his asshole ripping and bleeding all over again and every thrust made it that much worse. I kept going though because he felt so fucking good. He was a little bitch, but this was the whining and crying I could put up with. I could listen to this forever.

His body suddenly stiffened and his eyes got really big. I smirked. I had found his prostate and had managed to hit it dead on. I hit it again, enjoying the way his cocks started to twitch. Oh this was just too much fun. I could keep doing this forever if it stayed this fun.

"Stop," he begged hoarsely. "Please, no more. Please stop."

"But you like this," I said with a cruel grin. I began rubbing his dick in time with my thrusts, causing his hips to involuntarily to buck up. "You're a dirty little slut who knows that you deserve this."

He just cried in response to that. He was just too weak to fight me off. Last night's assault had made sure of that. I watched in amusement as he closed his eyes, seemingly trying to make himself block out any pleasure his body was feeling. I didn't let him do that. I made sure to hit his little magic button even more, and I stroked him in the way that always made Adam weak in the knees. He immediately began whimpering more, and he tried to pry my hand away from him. I didn't let him win though. He was never going to win with me.

He sobbed harder as he came, and the sight of that was enough to get me off. I came inside of him this time, licking his tears as I did so. "I'll see you later Jeffro," I whispered before I pulled out of him and started heading to the shower. I had to clean up before I picked up my Adam.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

James

Something felt wrong the entire morning. It wasn't just because Caroline was driving me even crazier than usual. It wasn't the fact Annabelle was refusing to talk to me. It wasn't the fact that Mark was planning to fuck around with both Morrison and Brooks later that night. No, it was something else. Something was wrong. I didn't know what it was until I saw Evan and Shannon looking around the school anxiously. Then it hit me.

Something had happened to Jeff.

I couldn't explain how I knew this. There could have been a million reasonable explanations for Jeff not being with his little friends at that moment. But my intuition never lied to me. It was telling me something had happened to him. Something really bad. It was the only thing that could explain the terrified looks on Shannon and Evan's faces. I immediately walked over to the fresh meat and started asking questions. "Where's Jeff?" I asked, just on the off chance that they might know something.

Shannon shook his head. "We don't know. He never showed up this morning and he's not answering his phone."

I didn't like the sound of that at all. "Come on," I ordered. "You're coming with me to his house." I actually needed them to come along because I had no fucking clue where he lived.

Neither of them argued with me. They just let me drag them all the way out to Mark's car. He was going to kill me for stealing it again, but I didn't give a damn. I just tossed the fresh meat into the back seat and took off like a bat out of hell.

It only took a few minutes to get to Jeff's house. I about crashed into the garage as I pulled into the driveway, but I managed to avoid that disaster. I barely remembered to shut the car engine off because I was in such a hurry to get out of the car. Shannon and Evan got to the door first because they had jumped out before I had stopped completely and they started pounding on the door like there was no tomorrow. "Jeff!" Evan shouted. "Honey it's us! Open the door sweetie!"

_He might not be able to do that,_ I thought glumly. I ignored the sick feeling I got in my stomach when I thought that and went ahead and busted open the window with my elbow. I cut myself open, but I didn't give a shit. "Come on," I told Shannon and Evan as I climbed in. "Get in here."

I didn't wait to see if they did what I was told. I didn't give a shit about them. There was one fresh meat I gave a damn about at the moment. "Jeff!" I shouted. I began tearing the house apart, the bad feeling I had growing worse by the second. I hadn't felt like this since…well actually never. This feeling was freaking me out and I didn't know how to make it stop.

I went upstairs and found Jeff in one of the bedrooms. He was curled up on the bed, whipped, beaten and judging from the bloodstains that stained the sheets between his legs, raped as well. I approached him slowly, making sure he knew it was me before I touched him. "Jeff?" I said slowly.

Jeff just cried. "J-James," he stuttered out. "Help me…"

"I will," I told him. I looked around the room and realized it had to be Matt's. And then I just knew it was Matt who had done this. Whether Adam had been involved at all didn't matter much to me. Matt had been the main culprit behind this. If Adam had done this, he would be at school right now, gloating about it because that was the kind of guy he was.

Shannon and Evan soon joined us. "Oh my God," Shannon said under his breath.

"Get him some pants," I said to nobody in particular. "We're taking him out of here."

"No hospital," Jeff whimpered. "Please…I don't want people to see me."

"Fine. No hospital. But you're not staying here anymore." This was not up for debate. I was kicking myself for not seeing this coming sooner. How could I have not seen this? I had seen the way Joseph had looked at Annabelle. I knew the warning signs. I had saved my sister from this…fuck, I was going to get Matt for this. The fucker would not get away with this.

Shannon brought me a pair of sweat pants for Jeff and I tried to get him dressed as gently as I could. I wasn't exactly good at this whole being comforting thing. I didn't know what the fuck to say or do to make Jeff feel any fucking better. But I knew exactly how I could make sure this didn't happen again. It was going to take time, but that was only because I wanted to make sure I got every torture method I knew in before the death would come.

Matt could run, but he wasn't going to be able to hide. I would get my hands on him. And then he was going to learn that it was not wise to fuck with someone who was mine.


	11. Safe Haven

Mark

I was not thrilled to say the least when I found my car gone when I went to leave school. I didn't even need to think about who took it; the fact that I hadn't seen James for several hours gave me all the answers I needed. "Your fucking brother better dazzle me with his words," I told Annabelle as I took my cell phone out of my pocket. "Because it is getting written on his tombstone."

Annabelle folded her arms over her chest. "Save it Mark," she said irritably. "We all know you're really not going to do anything to James, so why don't you stop wasting your breath?"

I glared at her. "Bitch don't take that tone with me. I don't give a shit what kind of mood that crazy son of a bitch put you in. If you think--" My phone started ringing before I could finish my sentence. Muttering under my breath, I flipped it open and put it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Is Matt Hardy at school?" James asked.

"Who the fuck cared about Matt Hardy? What the fuck did you do to my car asshole?" I snapped. I was a little overprotective of my car, but I felt like I had every right to be. It was my hard earned money that bought that car and having James (who was the most reckless driver I had ever seen in my life) putting his hands on it made me more than a little jumpy.

"The car is safe," James snapped back. "It's at my house. Now answer my question."

"I haven't seen Matt all day," I told him. I made a threatening gesture to Glenn and Annabelle, who were doing their best to try to eavesdrop on the conversation. They were violating my personal space and I did not like it one bit. "'Why does that even matter? Come pick me up you mook."

"Did you just call me a mook?"

"Yes I did. Now I'm not walking home, so come get me."

"Dude, I can't leave the house right now."

"Why the hell not?" My frustration was starting to grow at a rapid rate. "What are you doing that's so important?"

James sighed impatiently. When he started talking again, he was talking in almost a whisper. "Matt beat and raped the shit out of Jeff last night. His fresh meat friends and I found him earlier and he was--no, still _is_ a mess. I can't take him with me to come get you and I can't leave him and the other fresh meats here with Caroline. She's been having a cow off and on for hours now because I brought them here."

I sighed. I didn't need to question the on and off part of that statement. If Caroline didn't stay consistantly pissed about something, it meant she was passing in and out of consciousness. "You really need to take care of her dude," I said. "Just put us all out of the misery she brings."

"I'm going to fucking do that, but I have two fresh meats that already know she's here so they could hear something and start asking questions and I have another freash meat that goes absolutely nuts when I act like I'm going to get up. Hell, he started having a panic attack when I went to go take a piss earlier. Matt fucked him up bad Marky."

It definitely sounded like he did. I looked around at the parking lot, which was emptying at a rapid rate. "What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Find Matt," James said immediately. "And throw in Copeland for good measure. Put them in the basement of your funeral partner. Use the chains, not the ropes. Tell Paul not to go down there so he can avoid incriminating himself on the rare possibility if someone finds out about this. I'll get Caroline down there eventually and then we'll take care of these fuckers the best way we know how."

"Sounds fucking great to me," I said. Hell, I didn't give a shit about this entire situation, but if I got to kill some people in the process of all this, why not go with it? It wasn't like I had anything else to do with my time. "My car better be in one piece though. I'm not hunting for assholes if you've wrecked it."

"You love that car more than me," James pouted.

"Well that car doesn't drive me completely fucking insane," I informed him. "Maybe if you were less of a raving lunatic, I would like you more."

"Fuck you Marky."

"You wish Lawson. You know I'm better than the twink you've got held up in your madhouse right now."

"Ha fucking ha asshole. Just get over here as fast as you can."

I rolled my eyes as he hung up on me. "Dumb mother fucker," I muttered as I put my phone back into my pocket.

"What the hell was that all about?" Glenn asked. "What did the asshole do with the car?"

"He claims it's in one piece," I told him. "But he said he can't pick us up because he's got fresh meat at his house and Caroline might destroy them."

Annabelle frowned. "And he has fresh meat at our house because?"

"He's infatuated with one and the one he likes got raped by his dick of an older brother," I said bluntly. I motioned for them to get their asses moving before I left them behind. If we were walking to James's house, we needed to get our fucking asses moving. _And that's not counting the time it's going to take to go pick up Cooper from the babysitter's. Son of a bitch, it could be fucking dinner time before I get to my car if Tammy gets to talking._

Annabelle's and Glenn's mouths both dropped open. "Matt raped Jeff?" they said at the same time.

I burst out laughing at that. I knew it wasn't appropriate, but I couldn't help but be amused by the fact that I didn't even have to give the names of the rapist and victim in question. I just had to mention they were brothers and everyone knew who I was talking about. "Yup," I confirmed. "And now James wants to kill him, so he's sending me to find him while he tries to deal with a hysterical Jeff."

Annabelle winced. "James is comforting Jeff? Oh no, this isn't good. James is not good at comforting people. He's not even that great with Cooper when he's crying."

"Which means we need to hurry up and get there," I said, smiling at the thought of James trying to console Jeff. "Because it could possibly be a trainwreck and I love those."

Glenn shook his head at me. "You are so evil and twisted that it's not funny."

I shrugged. "Thanks Glenn Boy. I actually take that as a compliment." I patted him on the shoulder and took off a little bit ahead of him. My mind was already listing the places I was possibly going to find Matt and Adam. They could run, but they wouldn't be able to hide forever. James and I were the Grim Reapers of this fucking little town and we did not let people get away. No fun ever came from letting anyone get away. The fun was in the killing and James and I were the fucking masters of it. Of course there was the question of whether Jeff would ever find out about this, but I didn't really care about the answer. That would be James's problem, not mine. I was just along for the murder that would take place along the way.

XXXXXXXX

Jeff

I couldn't sleep at all. Too many nightmares were haunting me. When I closed my eyes, Matt was raping me again and I would immediately start screaming. I knew I was scaring Shannon and Evan and I was sensing that I was making James uncomfortable by constantly clinging to him, but I couldn't help myself. I was so fucking scared and James was the only one who could protect me. He was big and strong and he wouldn't let Matty hurt me again. I whimpered at the very thought of it. Matty had hurt me so bad and I didn't know what to do, think or feel. I hated him so much but I was also beyond scared of him now. I knew that if he ever got his hands on me again, he would do it all over again. And he would try to make me like it just to fuck with me again.

I shuddered as I remembered how I had gotten hard during the last attack. I hadn't meant for it to happen. It had hurt so bad and I hated every second of it. But despite what my mind and heart had been screaming, my body hadn't listened. It had let Matt get me off and now I felt like nothing more than a dirty slut. Maybe Matt was right after all. Maybe that was all I really was.

"Jeff you have to relax," James said. He awkwardly patted me on the head. "Matt's not going to hurt you again. I won't let that happen."

I knew that, but it still didn't help the fucked up games my mind was playing with me still. "I begged him to stop," I whimpered. "He wouldn't do it though. He just kept hurting me over and over again..."

Shannon and Evan exchanged worried looks. They obviously had no idea what to do about all this.

James sighed. "Fresh meats, grab twenty dollars off my dresser there and climb out the window so you can get me some tacos. I can't do this shit on an empty stomach."

Shannon looked at me. "But Jeff--"

"Jeff will be fine," James interrupted. "I'm not going to hurt him while your gone."

"Don't you have any food in your kitchen?" Evan asked.

"Well yeah, but do you want to try to get past Caroline?"

Shannon and Evan shuddered. I didn't blame them. Hell, I shuddered too. James's mom was scary. She saw James carrying me in and went absolutely crazy. She started screaming about how she didn't want sluts in her house and how James was going to hell for what he would be doing to us. James looked like he had beenr ready to kill her right then and there.

James nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, I know, she's a scary bitch. She'll be leaving us soon enough, so don't worry too much. Just until then, go out my window and get me some food. Hell, get yourself and Jeff something to eat as well. You fresh meats are all way too skinny."

"I'm really not hungry," I said after Shannon and Evan left. I felt bad because I didn't want James's money to get spent on food I wouldn't eat.

"I didn't think you would be," he replied. "But I am and I figured I could kill two birds with one stone."

"What's the other bird?"

"Getting rid of your fres meat friends so I could be alone with you."

I turned red and buried my face into his chest. "You don't want me," I warned him. "I'm tainted."

He chuckled. "I was born tainted Jeffey, so even if that were true, I wouldn't give a shit." He moved me so I was looking up at him. "Your brother is going to pay for what he did, I promise you that. And nobody else, not Copeland or Orton or any other fucker is going to touch you again as long as I can help it. Do you understand me?"

I nodded. I felt safe at that moment because I knew he meant it. He didn't seem like the type to hand out empty promises.

"Good." He kissed me on the forehead and let me lay his head on his chest again. He seemed a little more at ease with letting me cling to him now.

I sighed and closed my eyes again. Immediately I could picture Matt coming after me again, only this time, James was standing in his way and Matt couldn't get around him. Almost smiling, that was the thought that helped me drift into a sleep that was at least somewhat peaceful.


	12. Making the Moves

Adam

As much as I loved Matt, sometimes I couldn't help but feel like my life would be easier if I had a boyfriend who wasn't so scarily unpredictible. Today he just seemed to be in way too good of a mood. I just knew that he had done something else to Jeff, but I didn't get a chance to ask him about it until we started heading back to his car at about five in the afternoon. "So who's watching that slut of your brother to make sure he doesn't tattle on us?" I asked, acting as casually as I could.

Matt grinned sadistically. "Don't worry about him. I left him in absolutely no condition to be telling anyone anything."

I frowned. Now I liked causing pain just as much as he did, but I knew that he could take things just a little too far sometimes. "You didn't kill him, did you?" I asked. "That would get you in more trouble than he's worth."

Matt shook his head. "Don't worry, I didn't kill him. I just did something that I should have done years ago."

"And what's that?"

"I fucked him."

I stopped right in my tracks. It took me a moment to realize that I had not misheard him. "You did what?" I said in disbelief.

"I fucked him," Matt repeated. He looked slightly annoyed about having to repeat that. "Why the fuck are you looking at me like that? He's my little brother. I should have the right to do whatever I please to him."

"But you knew that I wanted to break him in!" I whined. This wasn't fair. I had spent a lot of time and effort sucking up to Matt to get permission to take Jeff's cherry and fucking Matt went behind my back and did it all by himself. It wasn't even like I had even gotten to watch and then try to weasel myself into the equation somehow. "Jesus Christ Matt, you told me--"

"I didn't tell you that I was going to let you fuck my brother first," Matt snapped. "I told you that I would think about it. Don't get all pissy at me just because I didn't choose what you wanted me to choose."

I shook my head. Sometimes why I even bothered with him. I could have any slut I wanted and I would be able to have full control over them. I didn't have to put up with this bullshit. "Whatever. Just take me home." I started walking towards the car again.

Matt didn't say another word until we got in the car. "If you're going to be a little bitch, you can just walk home," he informed me.

"I'm not being a little bitch," I snapped. "You're just a sick and incestuous bastard. He's your own fucking brother. Why would you of all people want to fuck him?"

He shrugged. "I've asked myself that a million times but I've never come up with an answer. So I'm sick of questioning it. I took what I wanted and I'm going to do it again when I get home."

I folded my arms over my chest. "Fine. I'll go fuck Evan again. How do you like that?"

"Like I give a shit what you do, you stupid slut?"

"Fuck you Matt." I started to get out of the car. I would rather walk home than deal with him right now. Before I could get very far though, Matt had me by the hair and yanked me roughly towards him.

"You better knock that shit off with me Adam," he said darkly. "I'm not putting up with it today."

I dug my fingernails into his hand. "Let go of me you son of a bitch! That fucking hurts!"

He just grinned before kissing me roughly. I kissed him back just as hard, trying my best to regain control of him. Once upon a time, I had complete and total control over him. He did whatever I wanted him to do without question, and he loved every single minute of it. But somewhere along the way, he started slowly turning the tables on me. Bit by bit, he started getting the control, and like a fool I didn't notice until it was too late. Now I was the one who was getting dominated and controlled. And while it was kind of hot at first, I wanted my balls back.

Matt chuckled and roughly pushed me into the backseat. "Do you think you're going to dominate here today? Huh? Well guess again Adam."

I tried to push him away but he was more determined than I was. "Fucking hell Matt," I growled. Even though I was losing, I wasn't going down without a fight. "Get the fuck off of me!"

Matt ignored me and started working on my pants. I tried to push him away again and this time he slapped me across the face. I slapped him back and then we were fighting just like we did when we were younger, only we weren't playing around this time. The stakes were a whole lot higher right now than they ever were back then.

"Got ya!" Matt said triumphantly. He got me pinned down and had my pants down around my ankles before I could stop him. I gritted my teeth as he entered me roughly. Fucker was so damn rough. "Shit!" I yelled, clawing at his shirt and nearly tearing it in the process. I was ripping and tearing but there was a small part of me that was actually getting off on it. Was that wrong? Probably, but it felt so fucking good. "Fucking hate you," I growled.

"No you don't," he said tauntingly. "You love me so much that you hate yourself for it."

I groaned as he managed to hit my prostate. I was getting a rug burn from getting fucked on the car floor, but I could deal with that later. "Touch me," I gasped out. "At least get me off you asshole."

"Get yourself off," he replied. He bit at my neck roughly. "You're a big boy. You know how to do it."

I scowled at him. He was such a fucking prick. Knowing that I had no other alternative though, I grabbed my dick and jerked it in time with his thrusts. I closed my eyes, taking in the sea of pain and pleasure I was swimming in. "Fuck!" I shouted as I coated my fingers with my seed. I secretly hoped none of it got on Matt's shirt. That could be just the thing to set him off all over again.

Matt grunted and pulled out so he could cum all over my stomach. He didn't give a shit if any of it got on my clothes. He smirked at me before fixing his pants. "I told you that you--"

The back window was suddenly smashed in, scaring the shit out of both of us. I quickly pulled my pants back up and looked outside. Mark fucking Callaway was attacking the car with a tire iron. "What the fuck?" I shouted as I followed Matt out of the car.

"You are fucking dead!" Matt yelled. If looks could kill, Callaway would have spontaneously combusted from Matt's very stare right then and there. "Do you fucking hear me Callaway?"

Mark just laughed. "I'm dead? You wish Hardy. You and Copeland are the only dead men walking I see here."

With Matt's rage, I doubted that claim at first. But then Matt lunged at Mark out of pure anger and Mark saw it coming. He stepped out of the way and just as Matt went past him, whacked my boyfriend right across the back of the head with the tire iron. I yelled Matt's name and jumped on Mark's back. I tried to lock in a sleeper hold but Mark yanked me off of him by the hair and then smacked me with the tire iron for good measure. The blunt weapon caught me right across the forehead and it made my world spin. I tried to focus on anything other than the pain in my head, and Mark gladly helped with that by whacking me in several other places for good measure.

"You know Hardy, I've never given a shit about you," Mark said. I opened my eyes and saw that he was standing over Matt, whacking him a couple of times just for shits and giggles. "I mean seriously, you're scary to the little twinks you terrorize, but to someone like me, you're a fucking joke." He grinned evilly. "But raping your own brother--now that's cold, even by my standards."

"Go to hell Mark," Matt said defiantly.

"I will someday," Mark replied. "But you'll get there before I do. You and your little boyfriend have played with Jeff for the last time. James is claiming Jeff as his and while I don't get it, what James wants, I help him get."

I stared at Mark in disbelief. How did he even know about what Matt did to Jeff? Did he and James seriously think I was involved? And what the fuck was going on between Jeff and James.

I didn't get any answers to those questions. What I got instead was another hit on the head and then I was thrown into the trunk of Mark's car along with Matt. Fucking bastard was kidnapping us.

Now that puts a huge damper on anybody's day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

"Where's James?" I asked. I moved around as best as I could on the bed, wincing in pain every time I jarred something. I really should have probably gone to the hospital, but I was still too afraid of people seeing me the way I was. It was bad enough that Shannon, Evan and James had to find me in the condition I was in, but now Shannon and Evan had to go home to appease their parents and James was running an "errand", so Annabelle and Glenn were keeping an eye on me. "Why didn't he tell me where he was going?"

"Because he's James," Glenn replied. He was looking at one of James's wrestling magazine. "He does this a lot. He'll be back before you know it."

I sighed and looked around impatiently. Annabelle was trying to put on some make-up and get ready for her date with Dave while also trying to make sure baby Cooper didn't put something he wasn't supposed to in his mouth. I wished James was the one who was in here with me. I felt uneasy in here without him. If Matt somehow came in here to get me, would Glenn and Annabelle be able to protect me? Matt was tougher than he looked and even though Glenn was bigger than him, he had tricks up his sleeve that few people knew aobut.

"James will be back soon," Annabelle assured me. She turned around and gave me a sympathetic look. "He didn't go far. He's just dropping something off at Mark's house."

I chewed on my bottom lip. Soon was not now. I looked away from her and tried to focus on being patient. It wasn't easy for me, mainly because I was scared without James right by my side.

Glenn sighed and got up so he could pick up Cooper. "Come on Jeff, don't look so freaked out. Matt's not going to touch you again. You're going to be just fine."

"You don't know that," I protested. "You don't know my brother."

"We know him well enough," Annabelle replied. She walked over to the bed and grabbed my hand. "We also know James better than anyone else. Trust me, if he doesn't want Matt to touch you, Matt's never going to lay another finger on you ever again."

"Are you sure?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh yes. I'm way beyond sure about that."

"Okay." I looked at Cooper. "Can I hold him?"

Glenn handed him over to me. I smiled at him and he smiled back at me. "He's cute," I said.

Annabelle grinned. "He likes you. I can tell."

"Well I like him too," I told her. "Hey Cooper, do you want to be my friend?"

Cooper cooed happily.

I giggled. I was taking that as a yes.

XXXXXXXXXXX

James

Unbeknownst to Jeff, I hadn't actually left the house at all yet. I was too busy glaring at Caroline, who was glaring right back at me. We were frozen, mother and son at a crossroads that was going to turn out deadly no matter which way we turned. "Say something," I demanded. We were in the kitchen, me holding my knife and her holding her usual cocktail.

"Fuck you," she replied. "I wish you had died when I tried to abort you."

I clenched my fists tightly. She was trying to bait me into killing her recklessly right here in the kitchen. It was like she didn't even care whether she lived or died or not. _Then again, she's so miserable that she really doesn't care. _

She smirked. "What's wrong honey? Did I hit a nerve?"

"You wish," I growled. "You're not going to hurt me ever again. I'm going to make sure of that."

"Oh yeah? You think killing me is going to do anything? Do you think it's going to change the way I feel about you? I'll still hate you, even after I'm dead."

I shook my head. "You can go ahead and do that all you want. What you do in hell is your business." I swung my fist as hard as I could, punching her right in the face. She fell down to the ground, out cold. I grinned and picked her up. "Stupid bitch. You're going to get what's coming to you. Before you're dead, you'll wish you weren't such a fucking bitch to me for all these years. I'll fucking make sure of that."


	13. Comfort

James

I looked at the scene in front of me with a smile on my face. Matt was hanging from a set of chains that were attached to a meat hook up on the ceiling, Adam was tied to a chair and Caroline was strapped to a table. All three of them were still unconscious, which was just fine with me. This was how I wanted them for the moment. "This is gonna be fun," I said happily.

Mark shook his head. "You know you can't keep them down here indefinitely," he told me. "Paul will want you to kill them eventually."

"I know," I replied. "And I will. But first these fuckers are gonna suffer." I glanced at my watch. Annabelle had to leave for her date with Dave soon, which meant I needed to get back to Jeff. "Of course I'll have to wait until the fresh meat falls asleep tonight before I get started."

Mark gave me a look like I was completely insane (which I was, but that wasn't the point). "Why are you still even bothering with this fresh meat?" he asked. "I mean seriously, what's the point?"

I frowned. "The fresh meat is mine Marky."

"Since when?"

"Since I made the executive decision to claim him." I pointed to Matt. "That cocksucking asshole raped Jeff." I then pointed to Adam. "That fucker would have done the same thing if Matt would have given him the chance. Why should I let them get away with that? It's not like they're gonna stop on their own."

"That's not the point James," Mark informed me. "Falling for a fresh meat is dangerous."

"How is it dangerous?"

"You like to horribly murder people in secrecy. Jeff is gonna be the little Curious George who will discover that and fuck this all up!"

I chuckled. "Curious George? What the fuck do you know about Curious George?"

"I know that he gets into shit that he doesn't supposed to!" Mark snapped. "And I know that Jeff's gonna figure out that your sneaking around doing something, and then he'll eventually find out that you kill people and then he's gonna freak! What are you going to do if he tries to tell the police?"

"He won't tell the police."

"How do you know?"

"I just do, okay?" I actually knew no such thing, but I was deterimined not to be wrong so I was gonna say anything at this point. "Jeff is not going to ruin anything, okay?" I gave Mark a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be back later to play, okay? If you want to get started before me, get started with Copleand."

Mark sighed as I started walking up the stairs. "If you plan to spend your days with Jeff and your nights here, when are you planning to sleep you idiot?"

"School," I replied simply. "It's not like my grades really matter. I already own a business that makes me big money."

"Yeah, but Annabelle's gonna nag at you for it."

"So what? Hey, I took over Dad's company after he died. It's not like I'm Jacob and I do absolutely nothing."

"Hey Jacob used to do some things. He would whine, bitch, moan, eat, sleep and he managed to die in a hilarious misunderstanding."

I smirked. My older brother had been a worthless slob who had managed to get himself shot by some drug dealers that thought they would collect on a debt Joseph owed them. I had killed the dealers, but not before letting Jacob get shot a whole bunch of times just for my own enjoyment. "Yeah okay, he did do those things. But that is not the point. The point is, I'm going now." I went the rest of the way up the stairs, got out of the house and started hauling some ass back to my place. With the way I drove, it only took about five minutes. I quickly snuck back into the house just as Annabelle was heading down the stairs.

"Finally!" she said. "Jeff started to get worried." She looked around before stepping closer to me. "Did Mark find Matt and Adam?" she whispered.

I nodded. "They're in his basement, right along with Mom."

She sighed in relief. "So it's over then. Mom's--"

"Good as dead."

She smiled and hugged me tightly. Mom had hated her just as much as she hated me, so she had gone through the same hell as I did. "I know this is bad for me to say, but you get that bitch," she said to me. "You get her like you've never gotten anyone before."

I grinned. "Now that's something I can do." I gave her a kiss, lingering perhaps a little too much because she soon pulled away from me and gave me a scolding look. "Uh...who's got Cooper tonight?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Glenn does," she replied, glancing out the window as she heard a car pull into the driveway. "He's taking Cooper to the toy store before going back to his place."

"So Jeff and I will be alone together then?"

"Yes. Do try and behave. The poor thing is traumatized."

"Oh come on. You act like I'm a monster or something."

She just gave me one of her looks again before shrieking because the door bell rang. "Oh God oh God oh God," she said under her breath. "Thank God for Xanex because I would so be dying of an anxiety attack if I hadn't taken it."

I quickly followed her to the door. "You know, you could still not go. I mean---"

"James shut up!" she ordered. "Don't spoil this for me!" She opened the door and grinned at Dave. "Hi!" Her voice was an octave higher than normal. She was obviously nervous.

"Hi," Dave said. He didn't even notice I was there. He only had eyes for Annabelle. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." Annabelle took his hand and let herself be taken out of the house. "Bye James!"

I didn't even say goodbye back. I just closed the door behind her. Okay, so maybe it still bothered me that she was going out on a date, but I wasn't going to start a fight with her again. I had a traumatized fresh meat to take care of and people to go torture later, so a fight did not needed to be added to the agenda tonight. "Jeff?" I said as I went up the stairs.

I found Jeff still in my room, and he just about jumped out of his skin when I came in. "Hey, it's okay," I said as I shut the door. "It's just me."

He let out a sigh of relief. "What took you so long?"

"Mark and I got to talking a little bit. I came back as soon as I could." I looked at the bookshelf that held all of my DVDs. "You want to watch something?" I didn't get an answer so I turned around to find Jeff scratching at his own arms. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"I feel him touching me," he whispered. "I can't make it stop." He began scratching at himself even harder, now drawing blood.

"Okay, that's enough," I said. I went over to him and grabbed his hands. "You got to stop that shit before--"He caught me off completely off guard by kissing me. I quickly pulled away away from him and frowned. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I...I don't know," he said in a tiny voice. "I just...I feel so dirty. And I can't make it stop."

"Why do you feel dirty? You have nothing to feel dirty about."

He looked at me like I was insane (it was the growing trend tonight). "Something about me made Matt rape me!" he informed me. "Only sluts want to be fucked by their own brothers!"

"No, only sick ass bastards want to rape their own brothers," I responded. "Matt's the bad guy here."

"But then why...I mean....he touched me and I--"

"Came?" I sighed as he nodded. "Jeffro, did anyone ever explain to you that the body tends to do stuff the mind doesn't want it to do? Sometimes when people are raped, they have orgasms. It's not because their dirty sluts or anyting; it's just the body reacting to the stimulation. It doesn't stay under people's control. Okay? Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes I'm sure," I assured him.

"Okay." He laid down and rested his head against my lap. I sighed and rubbed his back. Annabelle was right; the fucking kid was traumatized as hell and he was looking at me for support. Me, a killer who either didn't feel anything or felt fucked up things.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?


	14. The Games Begin

Matt

I was freezing cold when I regained consciousness. It took me a moment to remember what the fuck happened. When the memory did start coming back to me, it pissed me the hell off. Mark had fucking attacked me with a fucking tire iron. The big bad Mark Callaway had felt it necessary to attack me and Adam with a tire iron. Why he had done that, I had no fucking idea. What I did know was that I was now trapped in a room I had never been in before, and I was hanging from a fucking meat hook that was up on the ceiling. Adam was tied down to a chair just a few feet in front of me and there was some woman I didn't really know strapped to my table with us. I pulled against the chains that held me in place, but they refused to budge. Groaning in frustration, I kept trying until it started to hurt. "Adam!" I growled, finally accepting that I was going to need someone else's help getting me out of this. "Wake up!"

Adam groaned and very slowly did what he was told. "What the fuck?" he muttered when he regained his bearings enough to realize the position he was in. "Matt, this isn't fucking funny!"

"I didn't do it to you dipshit!" I growled, making him look over at me. "Don't you remember who attacked us?"

He blinked a few times before the memory came back to him. "Callaway!" he exclaimed, looking kind of scared. He had always been more afraid of Mark than he cared to admit. "Where the fuck did he take us?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea." I nodded at the woman on the table. "Do you have any idea who she is?" The more I looked at her, the more I could have sworn that I had seen her somewhere before. The massive headache I had at the moment was messing up my thought process though.

Adam looked at her. "I think....I think that might be Caroline Lawson."

"Wow Marky, Copeland was right about something! We should give him something for that."

Adam and I looked at the staircase. James and Mark were coming down to join us. "Where the fuck are we?" I asked. I kept my tone as angry as possible, even though I was freaked out about my current situation. Being at the mercy of people like James and Mark wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. "What do you two want?"

"I personally would like a burrito," Mark replied just to be a smartass. "But James here insists that we come down here and have some fun with you guys first."

"Hey, I have a limited amount of time here," James said defensively. "I need to get back before Jeff wakes up and realizes that I'm not there."

My eyes narrowed at Lawson. What the fuck was this asshole doing with my slutty brother? Was Jeff fucking him now? Did dear old Jeffro not get the message that he belonged to me now?

James came up to me and punched me right in the stomach. "You're fucking sick, you know that?" he growled as I gasped for breath. "I mean, I know I'm sick, but even I found what you did to Jeff sickening." He punched me again, only he did it harder this time. "You should have kept your hands off of him Matthew. You wouldn't be here right now if you had."

"And why is that?" I managed to ask. "Why do you even care about what I do to Jeff?"

James glared at me. "I've taken a liking to your brother. That's all you need to know." He grabbed on to the front of my shirt and ripped it right in half. I shivered even more. It seriously was freezing down here. My skin was covered in goosebumps within a matter of seconds and my nipples felt like they had been kept on ice for way too long.

"I think Matt here needs to warm up a little bit," Mark said wisely. "What do you think James?"

James smirked. "I think we could stand to heat things up in here just a little bit." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette lighter that had to have come out of a car. I watched him closely as he lit one of the matches, trying to tell myself that he was just fucking with me. He was just trying to scare me. He thought he could intimidate me into leaving Jeff alone by doing this.

He pressed the lighter right in the middle of my chest. I let out an involuntary shout of pain as my skin sizzled and burned. I quickly tried to grind my teeth and stop myself from making any more noise, but the one I had let out was enough to make him grin. "Do you think I'm fucking around with you Matty?" he asked, mocking me with the name Jeff used to call me when he was younger. "Huh? Do you think you're getting out of this basement alive?"

"How else is he supposed to get out of here?" Adam asked. He was staring at James with wide eyes. "You can't kill him!"

"Why not?" James asked. "He deserves it." He looked back at Adam. "You deserve it too. You've beaten on Jeff for a long time and you would have been part of that rape if Matt here had given you the chance. Neither of you deserve to leave this basement alive."

"And since we are the judges, juries and executioners here, we'll make damn sure that this will be the last place you ever see," Mark said. He had a huge grin on his face. Neither of them were kidding around. They really did want to kill us.

I hissed in pain as the lighter was placed right below my bellybutton. "Fuck!" I gasped out. I tried to wiggle away from the thing but James was persistant.

"Now see Matthew, I didn't actually have to chain you up to have my way with you," James said, acting like we were just having a pleasant conversation. "But seeing how you harmed Jeff when he was so vulnerable, I decided to make you vulnerable too." He took the lighter away from my stomach and then pressed it up against my neck. This time I couldn't contain a scream. The fucking pain was definitely undenaible.

"There's my boy. There never was a problem you couldn't solve by torturing and killing someone, right honey?"

We all looked over to see that Caroline was awake. She was staring at James with some of the coldest eyes that I had ever seen. "Don't call me honey," James snapped. His attention started to turn more towards her, which was just fine with me. "You don't get to fucking do that."

"Well seeing as how I'm going to die down here, I'm taking advantage of the few things I still can do," she replied. She didn't sound bothered by the fact that she was sure she was going to die. In fact, she almost seemed like she was almost happy about it.

James took a step towards her. "Do you fucking think I'm joking around Caroline? Do you think this is a game?"

"Oh no, I'm not that stupid," she replied. "I know what you did to Joseph and I knew all along that this was going to be how it ended between me and you."

Mark frowned. "If you knew, then why didn't you--"

"Run? What would be the point? No matter where I went, he would find me." She glared daggers at James. "Besides, running would make him think that I was afraid of him."

"You should be afraid Mother," James said, spitting out that last word like it was poison. He walked over to the other side of the room and pulled out a bull whip. "And if you're not, I'll make sure to change that."

She shook her head. "How long have you known me James? I'm not the pussy your father was. Your coldness, your lack of fear, the way you only intimidate but never get intimidated--that's all from me. You're more like me than you'll ever know."

He didn't like hearing that. He struck her across the face with the whip as hard as he could, making a cut right across her cheek. "I am _nothing_ like you," he hissed. "_Nothing_! Do you hear me?" He struck her with the whip some more, the sound of it hitting her flesh making Adam and I winced. To our surprise though, she didn't do much more than wince and maybe let out half a whimper. The bitch was tougher than she looked.

Not getting enough screams to satisfy him, James backed away from the table. He started heading towards a different part of the basement, stopping only to hit me with the whip a couple of times. I groaned each time, feeling the welts appear instantly. Mark was playing with Adam's hair, toying with him just a little bit. Adam looked freaked out. He was already believing that he and I were both fucking deadmeat. Maybe we were, but I knew that it wasn't over until we were dead. Things could still happen and we could get the fuck out of here.

"Now since you're such a terrible fucking mother and you don't know the things you should know about me that you should, I'm going to tell you a little story," James said. He was holding a glass jar full of some kind of liquid. "Last year, I got kicked out my chemistry class because the teacher thought I was stealing money from her. And to be honest, I was stealing, but it wasn't the money that I was taking. This cocksucker right here was taking the money." He looked at Adam just for that last part. "But I did steal some stuff from her classroom." He ripped Caroline's blouse open with just one hand. The buttons from it went flying absolutely everywhere. "It was stuff I thought could come in handy for my work." He took the lid off the jar. "And to be honest, it definitely has come in handy." He dumped some of the liquid on her stomach, finally getting an actual scream out of her. My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

The fucker was pouring acid on his own mother. _Okay, somebody has more Mommy issues than what is healthy._ I looked at Adam, who looked back at me fearfully. Yeah, we were definitely in more trouble than I wanted to admit. In fact, we could be right down screwed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

I woke up the next morning with James's arms around me. It was a nice feeling. Yawning sleepily, I rubbed my eyes and looked up at him. He looked so damn peaceful. For a minute, I was tempted to kiss him, but I chickened out at the last second. Groaning lightly, I tried to get up so I could go to the bathroom. James however had no plans on letting me go. "Stay," he ordered sleepily. "You and I aren't going to school today."

"I know," I said. I couldn't very well go to school while looking like the giant bruise I was anyway. I would attract the kind of attention I didn't want. "But I have to pee, so let go."

He mumbled something incoherent but relaxed his grip so I could get free. I left the room and went to the bathroom. Once I was done doing my business, I started heading back to the bedroom but the smell of pancakes attracted my attention. With a growling stomach, I wandered downstairs into the kitchen. To my surprise, Dave was in there making the pancakes while Annabelle fed Cooper.

Dave looked up and gasped when he saw my appearance. "Matt is so fucking dead!" he growled when he finally could form words.

"Shannon and Evan told him," Annabelle told me. "They'll be coming over again after school."

"Okay," I said. I looked at the pancakes and licked my lips. "Can I have some?"

Dave shook his head. "No. I'm eating them all and you'll have to starve."

I pouted.

Dave rolled his eyes. "I was joking Jeff. Of course you can have some."

Now happier, I sat down at that table and happily ate the food I was served. While I was eating, I saw the way Dave and Annabelle were with each other. They were definitely way into each other. The cuteness of it was almost sickening. Once I was done eating, I went back upstairs and got into bed with James again. He instantly hugged me tightly, but not too much so to aggravate my injuries. I smiled and closed my eyes again. I wasn't actually tired, but I was willing to lay here in James's arms while he slept. He was just so strong and so protective of me that I wanted to be as close as possible to him. Nobody had ever made me feel the way he did. He was just...he was what I needed right now.

I rested my head against the crook of his neck. "James," I whispered. "I think I'm falling for you."

He didn't answer me out loud. He was still obviously asleep. But he did snuggle up closer to me, and I grinned. This was something I could definitely get used to happening all the time. Now all I had to hope for was that Matt didn't come back and destroy this for me.


	15. Warning

Annabelle

The calm that settled over my life during the next few days was amazing and kind of eerie at the same time. With Mom's fate sealed, James and I were free for the first time in our lives. It was really kind of strange; our parents had made it impossible for us to feel completely safe for pretty much our own lives. Back when Dad was alive, I always had to worry about him cornering me and going through whatever sick fantasies he had in his head. And Mom...well, I didn't say or think this about a lot of people, but she deserved everything James was doing to her. I wasn't going to watch it because I didn't have the stomach for it, but she deserved to suffer. Not only were James and I better off without her, but Cooper was so much safer with her gone. My baby wouldn't even remember anything about what little of her reign of terror he did live through, which was the way I wanted it.

Jeff was doing a bit better, although he was always on the lookout for Matt. I didn't exactly blame him. He didn't know that his brother was going to die at the hands of my psycho brother. And honestly, even though knowing Matt was dead would probably give him some sort of closure out of this mess of a situation. But then again, maybe it wouldn't. Jeff still seemed to love Matt and could be opposed to killing him. And since James has already gotten started on that, it wasn't like he could let the bastard go. Ugh, this was too complicated for me. This was why I liked to stay out of these situations. James didn't have the best judgment in the world, but so far he had the ability to charm the pants off of Jeff (not literally though...as far as I knew), and as long as he could keep doing that, then he shouldn't have any problems.

Sighing, I tried to take my mind off of the whole Jeff/Matt/James/horrible death mess by focusing on the task James had sent me on. "Oh brother dearest!" I yelled, getting on to the website I needed to be on. "I need your credit card and I need it now!"

James came lumbering in a few seconds later. "Is it good?"

"Oh yeah," I said. The radio station based out at the local community college always had a huge outdoor concert every year during the month of September and even though I really didn't do well with large crowds, this was too good to pass up. "Sick Puppies, Hollywood Undead, Seether, Three Days Grace, Atreyu and Hurt. We've got to put it on your card though because we put the last round of tickets on mine."

The card was out of James's pocket and in my hands in about three seconds. "How many tickets do we need to get?" he asked.

"Well there's us, Mark, Glenn and Jeff for sure," I said. "I was hoping we could bring Dave too though."

James grimaced but nodded. "Whatever."

"Do you think Jeff will want to bring Shannon and Evan?"

"Yeah. And I think that Shannon fresh meat is dating Shane Helms, so you'll make me feel like an ass later for not hooking him up," James muttered.

I snorted. "James, I can't make you feel bad about being a murderer." But still, if Shannon was dating Shane, Helms was officially being included now. "So all in all--"

"We need nine tickets." James shook his head. "At this rate you're going to be taking care of Christmas all by yourself sis."

I raised my eyebrows. "I can--"

"No, you're not splitting this with me. We've got enough shit on your card already. Just order the tickets." He looked towards the door as he heard a loud crash. "What the fuck was that?"

"Mark probably broke something again," I muttered.

"Why do you always blame Mark for these kinds of things?"

"Because he's a big lug who always breaks our shit."

James rolled his eyes and left the room to see what had happened. I went ahead and ordered the tickets. Just as I got done with that, I heard the door bell ring. "Could somebody get that?" I yelled, taking a risk because having the boys answer the door wasn't always the best idea.

There was a moment of silence before I heard the door opening. "Oh Annabelle!" Glenn yelled. "It's your loverboy!"

I smacked my forehead and turned a deep of red. Damn it, why did they feel the need to constantly torment me about Dave? It so wasn't funny. "These fuckers are just mean," I muttered as I got up and went out to the living room. Jeff, Shannon and Evan were playing with Cooper, Sparky was chewing on a bone, James and Mark were trying to superglue a lamp back together and Glenn looked like he was about to start interrogating Dave. "You!" I said, pointing right at Glenn. "You step away from him!"

Glenn pouted. "Oh come on! I wasn't going to hurt him!"

I glared at him until he backed down. Once I was sure he would behave, I looked at Mark. "That's the third lamp this month Callaway," I reminded him.

Mark glared at me. "Bitch, don't start that shit with me! You're the one who fucking leaves these things on places that they can get knocked over at."

"Hey!" Dave said, glaring at Mark. "Don't call her a bitch."

"I'll call her whatever I want to," Mark snapped. "So fuck off Batista."

Dave growled and started to go after Mark. Mark immediately went to step up to the challenge and that was when I got directly in between them. "Okay, we need to calm down here," I said quickly, putting my hands against their chests and trying to keep them seperated. There was a really big problem with my efforts though. "Oh crap, James! A little help here!" I was nowhere near strong enough to be the one breaking up this fight.

James grabbed Mark by his hair and yanked him back. "Down boy," he ordered. "There are children in the room."

Mark slapped James's hand away. "Get the hell off me Lawson! I know where your hands have been lately and I want no part of it!"

James raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? And where exactly have my hands been lately, Mr. Cranky Pants?"

"Come on," I said to Dave, grabbing him by the hand and leading him out of the room. "I really don't need to see James and Mark beat the shit out of each other again."

Dave shook his head as he followed me. "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Jeff and them in there with them?"

"Don't worry, they'll be okay. Glenn will get them out of there if things get too wild." I took Dave to my room and locked the door after I closed it. "Besides, there is one good thing about my brother and that jackass being idiots."

"Really? And what might that be?"

"It distracts them so we can do this." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. He chuckled a little bit, but he kissed me back happily, more than happy to take advantage of what time we had before the others came looking to interrupt us. I was hoping that if it was James who came looking for us, I would hear him before he tried to break down the door. Even though he knew that Dave and I were hanging out and going on dates and stuff, I didn't want him catching us like this. He would just get jealous if he did, and I did not want to have to deal with that.

Dave and I didn't break apart until oxygen started becoming an issue. "Wanna go out again tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "But I don't know if I can. Tammy's working tonight and it'll just depend on if Glenn will watch Cooper."

"You're not going to ask James to do it?"

"Not at night. James has a tendency to go out and...well I don't know," I said, lying about that very last part. As much as I trusted Dave already, I wasn't about to dare let him in on this dirty family secret. "If I tell him to stay in the house for too long during the night, he'll just call me every ten minutes telling me to come home."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Has he done that before?"

"Well no, because I've never really went out before," I admitted. "But my lovely twin brother has the patience of a crack baby, so I'm pretty sure he would do that."

That made Dave chuckle a little bit. "You know what? If you can't get anyone to watch Cooper, bring him over to my house tonight too. We'll just take him to the park and watch a couple movies or something like that."

I grinned. I couldn't believe my luck. Pretty much every other guy in the school never gave me a second look (James probably had something to do with that) and even if they had, there was no way that they would put up with Cooper. How the hell did I get this lucky? "Okay," I said. "That sounds good to me."

"Good." Dave sat down on the chair next to my desk. He suddenly looked more serious. "There's a couple of things I need to talk to your brother about, but since he just looks like he wants to rip my head off every time I go near him, I think I should tell you and then have you say something to him."

"Okay," I said. I leaned against the wall.

"Matt and Adam are missing," Dave told me. "At least that's what it looks like. Nobody has seen them in a few days. Now given how possessive and abusive Matt is of Jeff, that's not like him."

I nodded, playing along like I didn't know where Matt and Adam actually were. "Okay, so if he's gone missing--"

"It could be a trick," Dave interrupted, confessing his worry. "They could be hiding out, waiting for Jeff to put his guard down and then they'll come back for him."

I sighed. "Yeah, but between me and James, nobody has their guard down around Jeff. Mark and Glenn are already out on the lookout for those bastards too. And with you watching too, it's going to be nearly impossible for them to get to him." I hated lying to Dave, but I had to do it. He was better off not knowing the truth.

Dave sighed. "Yeah, but they're not the only ones we're going to have to watch out for. There's a rumor going around that Orton wants to get his hands on Jeff now too."

My eyes widened. I hadn't heard that at all. "Randy wants Jeff?" I said in disbelief.

"That's what it sounds like," Dave confirmed. "Now I'm already planning on beating the shit out of the fucker the next time I see him but--"

"It might not do any good," I concluded. I sank down on to his lap. Damn, at the rate this was starting to go, James was going to have to kill even more people in our senior class. "Randy's too stubborn to listen to an ass kicking."

"Yup," Dave began rubbing my back. "And if thinks your brother and I are the things standing in his way, then he could try to get to you so we'll give up Jeff."

I shook my head. "He puts a hand on me, then James will destroy him before you even get a chance at him. I can guarantee you that."

"With as crazy as your brother seems to be, I don't doubt it. But just promise me you'll be careful, especially if James and I don't happen to be around you."

"I promise," I said. I truly did mean that promise. I sure as hell didn't want to be a target.

"Good."

"Annabelle?" James yelled. "Where did you go?"

"I'll be down in the minute!" I yelled. I looked at Dave. "Shall we go join the chaos again?"

"We shall."

"Cool."


	16. Crime and Punishment

James

At about three in the morning, I snuck out of my house and went over to Mark's place. When I got there, I could hear Mark having all kinds of fun with Adam upstairs. I listened to them for a moment, somewhat tempted to go in and make sure that Mark didn't start liking Adam more than me. But then I decided against it. As much as Copeland deserved a good double teaming, it wasn't something I had much time for at the moment. Matt and Caroline were waiting for me after all.

As I walked down the stairs to the basement, I heard Matt struggling to get out of his chains. I stopped at the bottom of the staircase and just watched him do it, completely amused by what I was seeing. He looked like a giant fish dangling from a fishing pole. It was actually kind of funny. "Are you going to stop any time soon?" I finally asked. "Or am I going to have to make myself comfortable and wait longer?"

Matt ignored me for a minute before finally stopping in defeat. "Please," he said, panting for breath. "Just let me go. You don't need to do this."

I snorted. "That is the most pathetic attempt of someone begging for their life that I have ever heard," I informed him. "Matt, I hate to tell you this, but begging for your life means trying to make me not want to kill you at all, not want to kill you more than ever."

Matt winced, knowing I truly meant that. "I'll give you money dude. As much as you want."

"I'm not interested in money," I replied. I walked over to him and took my knife out of my pocket. He flinched as I pressed the edge of it against his chest. "You should have figured that out by now."

"Oh come on man!" Matt said desperately. "You can't...I....there's got to be something that you want!"

"There is," I confirmed. "I want you dead." I cut his chest, making him hiss in pain. "You hurt Jeff. You fucking _raped_ him. Why in the blue hell would I let you go so you can terrorize him again?"

"Why do you even care?" Matt asked. He was actually glaring at me at the moment. "What I did with my brother is my business."

"Now see, that's where you're wrong," I corrected him. "Since I now have your little brother, anything that happens to him is my business." I cut Matt again, doing it a little harder and deeper so that I could get a little cry of pain from him. "And Jeff is still very upset by what you did to him, which makes me upset." I grabbed Matt's jaw and squeezed it as hard as I could. "You know, when we were really young Matt, you weren't actually on my radar at all. You were the goody two shoes that was always watching out for his baby brother. But then your precious mommy died--"

"Don't fucking bring her up," Matt growled.

"And then you met Copeland and then you became a total asshole," I went on, acting like I hadn't heard him. "But even when you started being a dick, I never thought in a million years that you abused Jeff like you have. I mean seriously, I'm a psychotic fucking killer and even I haven't raped anyone."

"You will though," Caroline suddenly said. The dumb bitch decided it was a good idea to open her mouth. "You want to know why?"

"Not really," I replied. "Anything you have to say at this point is completely irrelevant." I twirled the knife around in my hands, contemplating on what I should do to Matt next. Now it would make sense for me to rape Matt and show him the pain that he put Jeff through, but I realized that doing that wasn't really going to teach him anything. Would it hurt his pride? Definitely. But it was something he would get over eventually. Plus it would just prove Caroline right and I could not have that.

So what could I possibly do that would scar him for the short amount of time he had left? There had to be something I could do. Something drastic, something sadistic, something....the idea popped into my head so suddenly that it actually kind of freaked me out. Considering his main offense, it was a punishment that fit the crime perfectly. But as a man...well, just _thinking_ about it caused me pain.

Deciding to save my idea for a little later (as much as it hurt me to even think about, it was going to hurt Matt more so I was okay with that) I walked across the room and grabbed my own cat o' nine tails. The thing was though, my whip was different from other whips of the kind. I had taken the liberty of wrapping barbed wire around it, which added to the pain my victims felt when I used it on them. "Jeff's marks are finally starting to fade a bit," I informed Matt, referring the welts that still scarred my poor Jeffey's body. "He still dreams about it though. When he's not begging you to not rape him, he's begging you to not whip him again. He promises to be a good boy."

Matt looked at me defiantly. "He always promises that. It doesn't actually mean anything coming out of his mouth. He never changes even when he promises he will."

Caroline chuckled. "That sounds like James, only he never promises to be good. He always embraced the fact that he was a little bastard."

"Bitch, the next thing that comes out of your mouth better be some pretty enlighting shit because it's going to cost you a body part," I snapped. I was not joking with her. I really would cut something of hers off. Not her tongue because I did want to hear her scream still, but something else she would miss."

Matt started trying to get out of his chains again. He was eyeing the whip carefully. There was the tiniest bit of fear in his eyes at the moment, but he was doing his best to hide it. "Lawson come on, my brother is not worth this shit," he said. "You're digging yourself into a hole you might not be able to get out of because of that stupid slut--"

I whacked Matt across the face with the whip, cutting him open in several places. "I'm digging myself into a hole? Hardy, you act like you're going to escape the fate I set for you. Do you think that you're going to make me pay for this? Or do you think that someone else is going to find you and punish me for this? Because let me clue you in on something: nobody really cares about finding you. Jeff, Shannon, Evan, Dave, everyone at school--they're glad you and Adam have disappeared. Nobody really wants you guys to come back." I hit him with the whip a few times, striking him in the face (again), the chest and the stomach. I walked around to the other side of him and whacked him across the back with it just for shits and giggles. "You two have spent years making everyone hate you and look where that's gotten the both of you. You're here getting the shit whipped out of you by me and Adam is being turned into Mark's personal bitch as we speak."

"Mark's going to like the Adam bitch more than you," Caroline informed me. She was just talking to piss me the fuck off and it was working. "Just you wait and see. There's no way that the blonde is anywhere near as worthless or as big of waste of space as you are."

That was it. I wasn't going to put up with it anymore. I told her that she was going to lose a body part and I wasn't the type to not keep my promises. I hit Matt with the whip one last time before putting it down and walking over the the weapons Mark had hanging against the wall. I grabbed the hatchet and held it up. This would work just fine. "Oh Mommy dearest," I said, shaking my head as I walked over to her. "You should have known to keep your mouth shut. Did you think that I was fucking around with you or something?"

Caroline just glared at me hatefully. She didn't give a shit if I was fucking around or not. She was just...fuck, her attitude made this more complicated than necessary. _I'll simple things right up though,_ I told myself. _I'll make her fucking scream._ I went over to the table she was tied up on, raised the hatchet above my head and brought it down as hard as I could on her left ankle. She let out an agonized scream while Matt let out a horrified yell. I yanked the hatchet back up and then brought it down again just to make sure I had gotten through the bone.

"I fucking told you so Mother," I said, swiping her dismembered foot off the table. I set the hatchet down and quickly got to work on stopping her bleeding. She wasn't going to die of blood loss. Not yet anyway. I wasn't done with her by a long shot.

The basement door opened and Mark came thundering down the stairs (Adam was slung helplessly over his shoulder). "What the hell are you doing down here Lawson?" he asked, carelessly tossing Copeland down to the ground.

"He's fucking crazy!" Matt exclaimed, looking at me like I was indeed the craziest person he had ever met. Hell, as far as I knew, I actually was. "Please, Mark, you have to fucking stop him. Look at what he's fucking doing!"

"Oh shut up you stupid fuck," Mark snapped. "Nobody told you to speak." He looked over at me as I continued to stop Caroline's bleeding. "Damn James, you fucking almost made her wake the whole neighborhood up. Are you trying to announce to the world that we have a torture chamber down here?"

"No," I replied. I finished up my work with Caroline and went further into the basement. I found a small box over in the corner and opened it up. In it were all kinds of fun toys that I could use. "Jackpot," I said, pulling one out and walking back over to Matt. He tried to kick at me but I punched him in the stomach and that put a stop to that.

"What in the blue hell are you doing?" Mark asked as he watched me reach into Matt's jeans. "Are you...are you seriously giving him a handjob right now?"

"Yup," I replied, smirking as Matt tried to fight me off.

Mark looked insulted. "Why don't I ever get handjobs from you?"

"Because you're too busy trying to rape me," I replied. I continued stroking Matt as hard as I could, scraping my nails against his growing hard on. "Besides, actual fucking is way better than a handjob."

"Good point," Mark admitted. "But still, why are you--" He stopped talking as I stopped stroking Matt and put the cock ring in place. "Oh that is just cruel."

"Yeah, I know," I said proudly. I punched Matt in the jaw, silencing his protests. "But he might as well enjoy it though. This will be the last hard on of his entire life." I chuckled at my own cruelty before grabbing Mark and pulling him into a searing kiss. "Tie Copeland back up," I ordered as we broke apart to breathe. "And let's get upstairs and have some fun before Jeffey wakes up and realizes I'm gone."

Mark shook his head. "You really like that freshmeat, don't you?"

"Yeah...he's grown on me."

"You're fucking crazy Lawson."

"I know. But it's okay. I've come to accept it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

I woke up at about seven in the morning to the sound of Cooper crying. I groaned and looked over to the other side of the bed. James wasn't there. I gulped and sat straight up. "James?" I said. I got out of bed and looked around, like I thought he was just going to magically pop out of thin air. "James?" I said again, leaving the room to search for him. I went to Annabelle's room first to see if he was in there. He wasn't; Annabelle was just in there, trying to calm Cooper down. "Have you seen James?" I asked.

"He's not with you?" she asked, her surprise sounding just a little too forced for some reason.

"No," I said. "I woke up and he was gone."

"Oh. Maybe he took Sparky outside to potty."

"I'll go check." I left her room and went down the stairs. I found Sparky on the couch, his head propped up on one of the pillows. "Shit," I muttered. "James?" I checked the kitchen and the dining room. He wasn't there. Now I was starting to get worried. Where the hell did he go?

The sound of the front door opening caught my attention. I ran back to the living room just in time to see James coming in the front door. "Where did you go?" I asked, relieved to see him but kind of mad as well because he had left me alone.

"Donuts," he replied, holding up two of bags of frosted and powdered goodies. "I was hungry."

"So you just go off without telling me?" I was kind of starting to sound hysterical now. "I thought...what if Matt and Adam had been out there?"

James shrugged as he went into the kitchen. "They weren't out there," he told me as I followed him. He set the donuts down on the table. "And even if they had been, they don't scare me. "I would have fucking kicked their teeth down their throat before they did anything to me."

I shook my head. He didn't get it. He didn't understand how dangerous Matt and Adam were. "James--"

"Jeff, they're not going to get you or me, okay? Those fucks aren't ever going to hurt anyone again. So will you quit worrying?" James snapped. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. He looked absolutely exhausted.

I looked down at my feet. James hadn't raised his voice, but I felt like I had just gotten yelled at. I didn't like it at all.

"Oh fuck, Jeff, I didn't fucking mean for that to come out like that," James said. "I just didn't sleep last night and I get snappy when I'm tired. I'm not mad at you or anything."

"It sounded like it," I pointed out.

"I know." He sat down in the nearest chair. "I fucking know that."

I looked at him as he continued to rub his eyes. I sighed and reached out to put my hand on his shoulder. But before I could touch him, he was standing back up and looking at me with the strangest look in his eyes. I gulped, my breathing becoming strained and my heartbeat quickening. We just stared at each other for a minute before he grabbed me and kissed me. I gasped, unable to move for what felt like forever. His kiss wasn't gentle, but it wasn't too forceful either. It sent chills through my body and turned my legs to jelly. He grabbed my arms to keep me held up and probed my mouth with his tongue. I started kissing him back, which allowed him to slide his tongue right on in. I whimpered, getting so lost in our embrace that I completely forgot where I even was.

At least until Annabelle cleared her throat and interrupted us.

"What?" James said, sounding a little upset at her.

"Sparky is tearing stuff up in Cooper's room again," she replied. "And he won't listen to me. You need to get him out of there."

He groaned. "Damn dog," he muttered as he stormed off.

I took a deep breath, leaning against the counter for support. Cooper gurgled happily while Annabelle looked worried. "What?" I said. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she replied, obviously lying. "I just need to feed Cooper."

I watched her get Cooper's bottle ready, getting the feeling that she was hiding something from me. But before I could ask anything else, James was coming back with Sparky and my brain went back to not working properly. I smiled a little bit as he hadnd me a donut. I knew I needed to stay concerned about where Matt and Adam were, but I couldn't. It wasn't possible when all I could think about was the kiss James and I had just shared. All I could say was....wow. Wow wow wow wow wow...


	17. Peeking Out From the Shell

Mark

I did my best to eat the stuff the cafeteria called food while trying not to watch James and Jeff. It was lunch time and our usual table had been invaded. Usually it was just me, Glenn, James and Annabelle, but now we had been joined by Jeff, Shannon, Evan, Dave and Shane. Shane and Shannon were holding hands underneath the table and they were snuggling up to each other. Was it gross? Yeah, kind of, but it wasn't the worst thing they could be doing. It wasn't like they were groping or making out, so I could deal with them. Besides, I wanted to flick some stuff into Shannon's giant mohawk before lunch ended.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Glenn looking over Evan more than once. Evan, obviously knowing this, kept turning red and staring down at his tray. Now this was an interesting development. Glenn was a real loner. A really big fucking loner. I wasn't even sure if he had had sex yet because I never saw him hang out with anyone but me, James and Annabelle (and I know I haven't fucked him...and I was sure James and Annabelle would have told me by now if they would have had sex with him). As for Evan, I hadn't really seen him with anyone before. I knew what Adam had done to him in the band room and I wondered how much of an effect it still had on the fresh meat. _If he's still hurting from that, Glenn's going to have his work cut out for him._

The sound of giggling forced me to turn my attention away from Evan. I nearly gagged at the sight that ended up being right in front of me. James had pulled Jeff on to his lap and the two of them were getting really cozy with each other. I shook my head and looked away. I did not understand James's infatuation with Jeff. I really didn't. I mean, don't get me wrong, the fresh meat was cute as shit. I'd do him if James let me near him. But the way James acted around him...it weirded me out more than a little bit. James was...well I didn't know how to explain it. Sweet was one word that came to mind, but it made me want to gag, so I wasn't going to use that word to describe it.

I glanced over at Annabelle. She looked just as worried as I did. We knew James better than anyone and we both felt concern over Jeff and James's budding relationship. James was setting himself up for a big fall if he really liked Jeff and Jeff rejected him for being a killer. There was no doubt in my mind that Jeff would eventually find out. It could take awhile, but it would happen eventually. And it would more likely than not lead to trouble. And Annabelle had to be concerned over the fact that James had the tendency to be a bad influence on people. Jeff was a sweetie (not that I would ever say that out loud) but he could become corrupted by James. The way he was latching on to James could mean that our fears of him turning against James when the ugly truth came out were misplaced. Maybe he would accept James for what he was, and end up losing a bit of his own humanity in the process.

_God, why am I thinking like this?_ I asked myself. _I shouldn't even give a rat's ass about it._ Trying to force myself not to care so much, I looked around the lunch room. I saw Phil Brooks sitting with John Morrison, Mike Mizian and Kofi Kingston. I had been playing with Brooks and Morrison for awhile now, but now that I had Adam tied up at my house, I didn't need them anymore, and I wouldn't for awhile. Adam was fun too much fun to play with. Looking away from them, I spotted Adam's brother Jay talking to the foreign exchange student Yoshi Tatsu. I wondered for a brief moment if Jay was worried about Adam, but then I remembered that the two of them hated each other. I was willing to bet a hundred dollars that Jay would actually be happy to know that I was making his brother my bitch each and every single day.

"James," Annabelle said out loud, her eyes catching something that the rest of us didn't see.

We all looked to where she was looking. Walking across the cafeteria was none other than Randy, Ted and Cody. Randy's cold eyes were attempting to drill holes through Jeff, which made Jeff whimper and James glare back. I heard both James and Dave growl at Randy's direction, but I refused to move a muscle. Randy wouldn't come over here. Not now. There were too many people who were willing to kick his ass if he even tried. So, comforted by that knowledge, I looked at Ted and Cody. Ted was watching the way Randy was looking at Jeff and the jealousy was clearly written on his face. There were rumors going around that Teddy had fallen in love with Randy, and the look he was wearing now was supporting those rumors. _Stupid dumbass. Hasn't he realized yet that Randy truly is the viper we all call him?_

Cody's face told a different story entirely. He actually looked like he resented Randy. Not that I blamed him. Randy treated them like shit. Hell I had treated Brooks and Morrison better than Randy treated them (not Adam, but that was because he didn't deserve to be treated well). I didn't bother to wonder why Cody had just walked away from Orton yet though. When you're somebody like Rhodes, it was very hard to refuse someone like Randy, no matter how shitty they treated you. The twinks usually felt it was better to just take it rather than risk the consequences of saying no.

Cody happened to look over in my direction and our eyes met. He noticed how intensely I was staring at him and he blushed and looked down. The kid wasn't too bad to look at. If he got rid of the baggage that was Orton, he would look a whole lot better.

Time seemed to stand still. Randy was staring at us, poised to strike like the viper he was. James and Dave had stood up, the former snarling like a wolf and the latter resembling a not so hairy grizzly bear. Annabelle, our mother hen, looked torn between trying to stop the fight and letting it go. Jeff and Evan shrank back like the kicked puppies they were, obviously...wait, why the fuck was I thinking of so many animal comparisons? Ugh, I needed to stop watching Animal Planet before I went to sleep. It fucked with my brain.

Randy gave us one last resentful look before storming off. Ted immediately went after him, but Cody hesitated for more than a little bit. When he did finally walk away, I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "That was interesting," I commented.

James shook his head and sat back down. Jeff immediately latched on to him, obviously shaken by the way Orton had been looking at him. James rubbed his back, his cold eyes meeting mine. I knew what he wanted to do and I shook my head. Caroline, Matt and Adam's disappearance wasn't going completely unnoticed, and another person disappearing would be a big risk.

_Of course, if Randy doesn't leave Jeff alone, then it won't matter what I say to James,_ I thought to myself. _He'll kill the bastard without a second thought_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff

After lunch, I had art. James walked me to class so Randy couldn't try to corner me or anything. The little staredown at lunch had me freaked out. I had been so worried about Matt and Adam and I had gotten so caught up in my attraction to James, I had completely forgotten about the fact that Randy was looking to get his hands on me. The thought of that frightened me a great deal. Why couldn't people just leave me alone? What was so damn special about me anyway? Did I have a creep magnet attached to me? Was that why people wanted to rape and molest me? I wanted to ask James if that was the case, but I decided against me. The staredown with Randy had made him mad, and I didn't want to keep him that way with stupid questions.

"I'll see you here after class, okay?" James said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Okay," I agreed. "Are you actually going to do some work today?"

He smirked at me. "And ruin my flunking grade? Why would I do something like that?"

I sighed. "Could you at least behave then?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?"

"James!"

He laughed and kissed me again. My heart began pounding a million miles an hour as I kissed him back. There were so many people in this hallway...so many people watching us...yet I couldn't bring myself to stop. In fact, I began pulling James closer to me, needing to feel more of him. His kisses were driving me wild, so very wild...my head was spinning to the point where I was actually getting dizzy from it.

The loud sound of someone clearing their throat made us break apart. Mr. Lawler (the art teacher) was the one who had interrupted us. "Would you mind it if Jeff joined the rest of us?" he asked James. "I do need to start class."

James looked like he minded a whole bunch, but he didn't say anything. Instead he took my hand and kissed it before ushering me into the classroom. I went in, more than a little reluctant myself. Art was actually the only subject in school that I liked, but I didn't want to go to it. Not if it meant leaving James's side.

Mr. Lawler shut the classroom door and walked over to me. For a moment, I thought he was going to scold me for my PDA, but instead he pointed to the table in the back of the classroom that I usually sat at. "We had a new addition to the class," he said quietly so nobody else could hear. "And your table was the only one I could fit him at. I hope you don't mind."

I looked back at the table. Phil Brooks was sitting back there. I had gone to school with him for years, but we had never really hung out. It wasn't a personal thing; he just had his friends and I had mine. "Okay," I said, getting apprehensive despite of myself. Unless Shannon and Evan were in the class, I preferred not to sit by people. But I didn't have a choice now. I walked to the back of the room and sat down in my usual chair. Phil and I both looked at each other, each of us biting our lower lip. "Hey," I said quietly.

"Hey," he said back. He tapped his fingers against the table. "So uh...do you have to be good at art stuff to pass?"

I shrugged. "It probably helps."

"Shit," he muttered. "I'm in trouble then."

I frowned. "Why are you here if you suck at art?"

"I got kicked out of my last class and my choices for replacement classes were this or choir."

"Oh." I didn't question him any further. I didn't blame him for choosing art over choir. Having to get up in front of people and sing...no way. I would never be able to handle it.

Mr. Lawler gave us a free day today, which meant as long as we did something artistic, we would get a grade. Drawing, painting, messing with the pottery--as long as he could have a somewhat quiet room to fight off the effects of the booze and last night's women, he didn't give a shit what we did. Phil and I both grabbed a sheet of paper to draw on while some of the other people in the class went to go mess with the paint.

"So do we have to turn this in then?" Phil asked me as he grabbed a pencil out of his bag.

I shook my head. "As long as he sees us doing something, he'll just give us credit for the day."

"Sweet," he said happily. "That means I can draw a giant monster eating my brother."

I frowned and looked over at him. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "I don't like my brother," he explained.

"Join the club," I said with a sigh. I ran my hand through my hair. I really didn't want to talk about brothers. Having been raped by mine, it was a topic I could happily avoid for the rest of my life.

Almost like he was sensing what I was thinking, Phil changed the subject. "So um....you sit with Mark a lot?"

I shrugged. "I guess I will be now. Why?"

"Just be careful. He's an asshole." Phil began doodling on his paper. "I think the monster should eat him too..."

I almost smiled. Mark was a bit nasty. He didn't seem to have much use for me, but he never said anything mean to me. _Probably because James would hit him if he did._ "Do you know that from personal experience or something?"

Phil bit his lip again and refused to say anything. That told me something had gone down between him and Mark, but not exactly what it was. Deciding to ask James about it later, I changed the subject for Phil's benefit. "So uh, why did you get kicked out of your last class?"

"I punched Jack Sawagger in the face," he replied without hesitation.

"You did?" I said in surprise. "Why?"

"He was harassing my friend Eve," he explained. "He started grabbing at her so I hit him and then we brawled all over the room. We both got kicked out of the classroom for it."

"Oh. Well that's not fair for you. You were only defending her."

He just shrugged. "Life isn't fair though. It's sad, but true." He grinned just a little bit. "You want to know what's funny?"

"What?"

"We've been going to school together since the second grade and this has been the longest conversation we had ever had."

I put my head down sheepishly. "I'm not good talking to people," I said quietly.

"It's okay," he assured me. "I didn't think you were, so I've never taken it personally."

"Well that's very nice of you," I replied. I picked up my pencil and without even thinking about what I was doing, I began drawing the first thing that came across my mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"The one guy you always hang out with, the one with the long hair and the sunglasses--"

"John?"

"Yeah. Does he really call himself The Shaman of Sexy?"

Phil grinned. "Yeah, he does. "He also calls himself the Friday Night Delight and The Chuck Norris of Nookie."

I stopped in my tracks and blinked. "The Chuck Norris of Nookie?"

"Yeah, I know, I don't get it either," Phil said. He was shaking his head. "I told him that those nicknames make him sound like a jackass, but he can't help himself. He's not a bad guy though."

"Are you two...I mean--"

"We're not together. He's dating Mike."

"Mike? Mike who likes to call himself the Miz?"

"Yeah, that Mike."

"Oh. Isn't he--"

"Annoying, loud and abrasive? Oh God yes. But he makes John happy, so I'm cool with him." He frowned at his picture. "Okay, now that just looks like a giant penis..."

I giggled and tried to get back to working on my drawing. This was a bit weird for me. I wasn't used to talking to people like this. So many people I've known for years, yet I haven't spoken to the majority of them. Matt's leash had been that tight on me, forbidding me to have too many friends in case they figured out what he did to me every day. But now he was gone and in his place was James. James, who seemed to be regarded as such a dark force by so many people, was the light that I had so desperately needed. He made me feel good about myself, which was a way I hadn't felt since before Mom died. And now here I was, talking to Phil, and that felt natural in a way I knew it wouldn't have if Matt still had me. Smiling, I turned my full attention to my paper. I knew exactly what I was going to draw, and all I had to hope for now was James liking it.


	18. A Secret Not Worth Knowing

James

"Honey, I'm home!" I said cheerfully as I entered Mark's basement. I hopped over the railing and landed on the floor with a thud. "Anyone miss me?"

"You left the cock ring on for too long," Caroline informed me. "The thing's dick is turning weird colors and he won't stop crying about how it hurts."

"The thing? Matt's a thing now?" I almost smiled despite how much I hated her. It was nice to know that despite being a heinous bitch, she didn't discriminate against people. She hated everyone almost equally (she just hated me slightly more than anyone else).

"He's always been a thing," she replied, despite not knowing Matt before they were thrown into this basement together. "His bitching doesn't change anything."

I didn't dare tell her that I agreed with her on that point. I was physically incapable of doing that. So instead I walked over to Matt and slapped him until he opened his eyes. "Rise and shine Hardy," I said loudly, grabbing his swollen dick (it was a really dark purple color now...actually, it was almost black at this point) and squeezed it.

Matt let out a scream as his eyes opened. "There we go," I said. "That's a good boy." I smirked. "Have you enjoyed your last boner?"

"Please," Matt whimpered miserably. "James please..."

My eyes narrowed. "Did Jeff beg?" I twisted his dick until he screamed. "Huh? Tell me Matt, did Jeff beg like you're begging now?" I spit in his face. "You're disgusting Hardy. If I could stand the thought of doing it, I would rape you so you could get a taste of what Jeff went through." I smirked and got my knife out of my pocket. "But I must say, the idea I've come up with should work out just fine." Without any more hesitation, I sliced Matt's dick right off. The scream that came from him when I did that could only be classified as horrifying...if you weren't me anyway. I just laughed as the cock ring fell to the ground. "Owie, that's gotta hurt like a bitch," I said. I tossed his dick across the room, making it hit the wall with a loud splat.

"That's disgusting," Caroline muttered under her breath.

"I'm glad you think so," I told her. "I live to disgust you." I walked over to her and wiped Matt's blood that had gotten on my hand all over her face. She attempted to bite me so I slugged her on the cheek. "Hey, none of that now," I said, glaring daggers at her. "You try that shit again and I'll make you regret it."

She shook her head. "You think I don't regret enough things involving you already? I regret your entire existence. You and that little slut--"

I punched her in the face as hard as I could, breaking her nose with that single blow. "Don't you EVER call Annabelle that again! Do you fucking understand me?"

"I do," she said, licking the blood that was dripping down to her mouth. "I understand you loud and clear."

"Good." I wiped her blood off my knuckles without taking my eyes away from her. Despite the fact that I hated the sound of her voice, I found myself being compelled to ask her some questions I've been wanting the answers to for a long time now. "Why did you even marry Joseph in the first place? I know you two hated each other."

"We did. But it all came down to money. Joseph wanted money from his father to start that fucking porn company and I wanted to be wrote into my father's will so I could inherit everything he had."

"And did your little plan work?"

"Of course it did. There was one little snag because of my sister Shelly though. Dad liked her better than me and even after I got married, he still intended to give her more." She smirked. "Of course that all changed when Shelly mysteriously died, leaving me the only heir to Dad's money."

I raised my eyebrows. So Mom killed Aunt Shelly? Everyone always told me that it was a suicide. I wasn't at all surprised by that news though. Mom was definitely capable of doing something like that. "So if this wall a matter of convienence, then why in the hell did you two have sex?"

"James, don't ask such stupid questions. Your father fucked anything with a vagina. I was no exception."

I shuddered a little bit. Now I was officially grossed out for life. "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit," I informed her.

She rolled her eyes. "Lovely." She shifted around as best as she could on the table. "I never wanted to be a mother. I knew I was going to be bad at it. As soon as I laid eyes on Jacob, I wanted him to die."

"Everyone wanted Jacob to die," I pointed out. "That was actually a pretty common theme in his pathetic little life."

"At least you didn't have to give birth to him," Caroline muttered darkly. "That little fuck was fatter than shit when he was born and I'm sure he was at least four hundred pounds before you did away with him."

"Four hundred pounds? I bench press four hundred pounds and let me tell you what, he weighed more than that."

" does it matter anyway? That fat piece of shit is dead." Caroline shook her head. "I hate to say this, but killing him and Joseph are the only useful things you have ever done in your life."

"Well I would say that popping me and Annabelle out has been the only useful thing you've ever done, but seeing as how you tried to kill us both on numerous occasions, it kind of takes away from that good deed."

She laughed. "You consider me giving birth to you a good deed? Look at you James. You've killed way more people than I have and now you're lying to your new little boyfriend and keeping his brother chained up in this God foresaken basement. What do you think Jeff is going to do when he finds out what you are? Do you think he'll ever truly accept you? Because he won't. He'll turn on you, just like Mark and Annabelle eventually will."

"They won't," I said stubbornly. "Because unlike you, people actually like me and can stand my presence." I looked over and saw that Matt was loosing quite a bit of blood. "Oh hell no," I muttered. I began to look around for a towel or something so I could stop the bleeding. "You don't get to die yet Matt. That would be way too easy for you."

"Okay, maybe you're partly right," Caroline admitted. "Mark is sick and twisted like you. He's always going to want you around because you two feed each other's blood lust too well. And Annabelle can't function without you. She's pathetic like that."

"She is not pathetic!" I hissed, really starting to lose control of my temper. "She is a fucking saint and you will shut the fuck up about her."

"From day one I knew the bond between you two wasn't natural," Caroline said, completely ignoring me. "I had heard about twins being close, but there was just something weird about the two of you right from the start. The way she relied on you...the way you didn't let her out of your sight if you could help it....and then it got worse when you got older. Once Josepeh even thought about dipping his pen into that ink, you did it first and made sure that he knew that she was yours."

"And you fucking blame me for that?" I asked. I found a couple old rags and went over to Matt so I could put pressure on his groin to stop the bleeding. "I saw what he used to do to the girls he brought home. I couldn't let her end up like that."

"I guess you're right," Caroline said, her tone indicating that she was far from done yet. "You had to save her. And hey, it didn't turn out so bad. Sure she got pregnant and miscarried your hellspawn but--"

"Annabelle didn't get pregnant Mom," I said, completely confused about where this pregnancy talk was coming from. "Cooper was the first and only baby that's been in her stomach."

Caroline smirked. "That's what she wants you to think. She never got a chance to tell you she was having it so she didn't tell you she lost it. Thirteen years old and pregnant with her twin's brother baby...and you wonder why I call her a slut."

I stared at her incredulously. Caroline was completely about serious about this. But there was just no way that it was possible. Annabelle would have never kept something like that from me. We told each each other almost everything; the only thing that I ever kept from her was a blow by blow account of the murders I've comitted and that's only because she told me not to tell her. "You're a liar," I said to Caroline. Making sure to keep one hand on Matt, I used the other one to get my cell phone out of my pocket. "You're a fucking liar and I'm going to prove it right now." I dialed Annabelle's number and waited for her to answer.

"James, where are you?" Annabelle asked immediately upon answering. "Jeff and his friends are downstairs and they want you to come home and watch a movie with them."

"Tell them I'll be home in a little bit," I replied. "Bella, can I tell you something completely ridiculous?"

"Yeah sure. If you want to."

"Mom just told me that when we thirteen, you got pregnant with my baby and then you lost it and never told me about it."

To say the silence after that statement was long was an understatement. I just kept standing there, expecting Annabelle to tell me that was completely ridiculous and that Mom was a big fat liar. But she never did that. Instead she began to breathe really weirdly and started muttering "Oh God" over and over again. "Annabelle?" I said, getting a little freaked out. "That's not actually true, is it? I mean, that's something you would have told me about right off the bat, isn't it?"

"Oh God oh God oh God--"

"Annabelle!"

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding like she was about to cry. "I'm so sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry..."

My jaw dropped. It literally felt like I not only got punched in the stomach, but I got kicked in the balls by someone who had a bowling ball attached to their foot as well. "You....you were....WHAT THE FUCK??"

"James I swear, I didn't know I was pregnant until the day of the miscarriage," she said. She was defintely crying now. "I took a test and it came back positive. You were with Mark and I was trying to call you but you didn't answer and then Mom saw the test and she freaked and we got into this huge fight and then she...she...oh God James, she kicked me in the stomach and killed the baby."

I stood perfectly still, unable to move or feel anything. I was supposed to have a child. An actual, biological child. My chest began to tighten up. Cooper should have a half brother or sister right now. But he didn't. Because of Caroline. Caroline. The root of all evil. The bane of my existence. She hadn't been able to kill me so she took my baby. The baby I didn't know I was supposed to have. They kept it from me. Both of them. Annabelle was babbling on about how she was just trying to protect me my keeping the information a secret. I shouldn't have had to suffer like she did. But I'm suffering now, and it hurts more than I can stand it. My baby...I not only failed to protect Annabelle, but I failed my baby. Why hadn't Caroline said anything? Why would she keep that from me? She had to be dying to throw that in my face for so long now. She should have gloated....oh who cared anymore? Reasons didn't matter anymore. Caroline was going to get it. That bitch. That stupid fucking bitch...

That was my last coherent thought before I let out a rage filled scream and my mind went completely black.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Mark

"You know, just when I think I've seen everything from you, you find a way to outdo yourself," Glenn said with a shake of his head.

I grinned. We were up in my room, and I not only had a dog collar on Adam, but I had this really long chain leash attached to the collar so I could yank the blonde bitch around whenever I chose to. "You should hear him beg when he's like this. It's quite entertaining."

"You mean you actually let him get enough air in his lungs to speak?"

"Of course I do. I'm not that much of an asshole." I yanked back on the leash roughly, causing Adam to jerk backwards. "Isn't that right?"

Adam nodded meekly. I had bitchified him quite well since I had brought him upstairs to play with me.

"You are aware that you will have to kill him eventually, right?" Glenn asked.

Adam let out a whine as he frantically shook his head. He didn't like that idea at all. Not that I blamed him. I wouldn't be eager about that fate if I was him.

"You let me worry about Adam here," I said, holding off on the discussion of Adam's death for now. I was having way too much fun with him to even consider killing him yet. "You just worry about that little Evan kid that was making goo goo eyes at you during lunch."

Glenn blinked. "He was not doing that."

"Oh yes he was! And you were making goo goo eyes at him too. It was absolutely disgusting." I chained Adam up to the bed post and ruffled his hair, yanking on it just a little bit as I did so. "You like the little midget. Just accept it and move on."

"Evan is not a midget!" Glenn said defensively. "He's fun size."

I shook my head. "You are a freak. A big fucking--"

James screaming at the top of his lungs interrupted me. I looked at Glenn, wo stared right back at me. This was not James's normal screaming. This was James's angry screaming. Yes there actually was a difference between the two. I could never really explain it right with words; it was just something that I knew when I heard it.

"What the hell has him so upset?" Glenn asked.

I just ran out of the room. I had no idea, but I was planning to find out. I sprinted down the stairs, went into the kitchen, threw open the basement door and just about fell down as I ran down those stairs. James was in the worst rage I had ever seen in my life. He was stabbing Caroline over and over again, drenching himself in her blood. He was calling her a fucking bitch and raving about a baby, which made no sense to me at all. I looked over at Matt, who was watching the scene with white eyes. His groin was a bloody mess and it looked like his dick was missing.

"Holy shit!" Glenn exclaimed as he saw what James was doing. "Your boyfriend's gone fucking insane Marky!"

I just nodded in agreement. There really wasn't anything that I else I could do at that point. There was no way that I was going to go try to calm him down now. That was suicide and I was not a suicidal type of guy. So I just held Glenn back and watched James destroy Caroline until she was in pieces. Even that didn't soothe him though. In fact, he seemed enraged that she would go and die on him so soon. "You fucking bitch!" he howled, stumbling away from her and going over to Matt. "You stupid fucking bitch! I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU!"

I flinched as he stabbed Matt through the neck, making blood spurt all over his face. He yanked the weapon back out and then plunged it in and out again and again, mutilating the fucker just like he had Caroline. I glanced down at the floor and saw James's phone down there. Did he get a phone call that he didn't like? Did something happen to Jeff? Or was it Annabelle? Or Cooper? "Lawson!" I finally yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

James ignored me and kept stabbing Matt as much as he possibly could.

"Mark..." Glenn said nervously. He sounded really concerned about James's mental state at the moment.

"LAWSON!" I screamed. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG?"

James stabbed Matt one last time before collapsing down to his knees. He covered his face with his bloody hands and just stayed like that. I hesitantly started walking towards him. "James?"

"Mark, is that a good idea?" Glenn asked.

I ignored him. "James answer me," I ordered. "What happened?"

"She killed it," James said, his voice muffled by his hands. "She killed my baby, she killed my fucking baby. But now she's dead. I got her back. That fucking bitch. I got her back. I got her and sent her to hell." It didn't even seem like he was talking to me. He was muttering this all to himself.

I sighed and got down to my knees so I could wrap my arms around him. I had no idea what baby he was talking about, and I had a feeling that I didn't want to find out. Sometimes with James's family, there were things that just weren't worth knowing.


	19. Stop Thinking About It

Annabelle

I sobbed violently into my pillow, hating my mother with every fiber of my being. One of my worst nightmares had come true. Caroline had told James about the miscarriage. I couldn't believe her....wait, what was I thinking? Of course I could. Caroline hated the both James and I more than anyone else on the planet. And since she had to have known James was going to kill her anyway, she had made damn sure to hurt him as much as she could before she was murdered.

When James had flown into his rage, he hadn't hung up his phone. I was sure that he had dropped it, but that wasn't what was important to me. Only a few things mattered to me at that point. One of the things that mattered was the fact that I listened to James kill Caroline. I heard what he did to her. And for the first time in my life, I wish I was there to help him. I did not have the bloodthirst he did and I hadn't even wanted to kill Joseph (although that was more because I was scared of him....those looks he used to give me...it made me feel like he had actually raped me), but Caroline was different. She had killed my unborn child, caused me to try to carry that burden in secret for four years and then cruelly throw it in James's face, hurting him just because she could.

That was one of the other things that I could only focus on at the moment. James was in pain. Extreme emotional pain. A lot of people accused him of not having feelings and they were right for the most part. He had no compassion for his victims (or his potential ones) and he felt not guilt or remorse for the things he had done or the things he planned to do in the future. But when he did feel something a normal person would feel, he felt it way too strongly for his own good. His emotional state really had no balance to it. Add to that the fact that he really didn't have any good coping skills whatsoever and that made this the worst thing he could have possibly found out about.

I hung up my phone and put it in the drawer of the desk right by my bed. Hopefully Mark or Glenn would notice James's phone was still on and hang it up for him. I grabbed my stuffed monkey George and hugged him tightly. James had gotten him for me when we weretwelve. We had been at the mall and we had found a new store where people could stuff their own stuffed animals. I dragged him in there because I thought it was really neat, and even though he had complained about being there the entire time, he bought me George because he saw how much I wanted something. I had kept George on my bed ever since. George was just special to me. If James wasn't around to comfort me, George was the next best thing. Actually, sometimes George was better because George didn't have psychotic mood swings. George was definitely the safer of the two.

"Annabelle? Shannon and Evan want to know--what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I sat up and looked at Jeff, who had let himself in without knocking. He was staring at me with wide eyes, obviously taken aback by the state he found he found me in. "It's nothing Jeff," I lied. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "I'm fine."

"But....you look sad," Jeff said. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "What happened? Did you and Dave have a fight?"

I shook my head. "No. It's just family stuff."

"James?" Jeff was instantly worried. "Is it James? Did something happen to him?"

I sighed. "Our Mom just....she just...Jeff please, I can't do this right now. James will be home soon." I laid back down. "I just want to be alone right now."

"Okay..." Jeff slowly got up and left the room, obviously troubled by what I had just said to him. I sighed and closed my eyes. My head was really starting to hurt. My guilt and regret over my lost baby, my anger and hate at Caroline and my worry over James was turning me into an emotionally overloaded mess. And me as an emotionally overloaded mess was never a good thing. It made me feel like my chest was chest and throat were closing on me, which made it really hard for me to breathe. All of this shit had triggered a damn panic attack. I reached over towards my desk and began looking desperately for my pills. I found them in the drawer that had my phone in it, and I took two of them before pulling the blanket up over my head. Now I just had to wait for James to come home so I could deal with whatever fucked up state he was in. _Fuck, today has gone right to hell. It really, really has._

XXXXXXX

James

I wasn't able to coherently explain to Mark what I had found out. I just wasn't capable of doing it. Every time I tried, the words got stuck in my throat and I turned into a mess. Mark finally told me to just be quiet and he cleaned the blood off me and gave me back some clothes I had left at his place a long time ago. Now he was driving me home. He wasn't even bitching at me about cleaning up the mess I had made in his basement. He just said that he and Glenn would take care of it, which never happened. That was how I knew I was a real mess. Mark never cleaned up my messes without bitching about it.

I leaned my head against the window and just stared blankly out it. This all felt wrong. I was a complete emotional wreck and not only was it a gorgeous day outside, but people had the audacity to be out enjoying it. Bastards. I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to torture them and make them scream so that when before they died, they felt as bad as I did now. Oh, and I wanted to blow up the sun. Yeah, that would teach that mother fucking thing to come out when I wanted it to go away.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Mark said suddenly. "You going home with Jeff and his little friends while you're like this..."

"I won't hurt them," I muttered lifelessly. "Cooper and Annabelle are home too. I can't do anything there."

Mark sighed and looked over at me. He almost said something but then he changed his mind. I was glad he did. I really didn't feel like talking more than I had to. I was just trying to keep myself from losing my mind completely again. Fucking Caroline. Even though she was dead, I wasn't able to enjoy her death properly yet because of the bombshell she had dropped on me. That fucking bitch. She had just been waiting to play that card on me. She knew it would get her killed if she revealed it too soon, so she had kept her mouth shut and didn't reveal it until she knew she was going to die anyway.

What really sucked about killing her though was the fact that it didn't change anything she had ever done to me and Annabelle. Sure she couldn't hurt us anymore, but what about everything she had done before? The memory of it remained, staining us and fucking with our brains. And killing her hadn't brought my baby back. My baby...it hadn't gotten lucky like Cooper. It hadn't been allowed to live. I groaned and banged my head against the window. I needed to stop thinking about it. Thinking about it wasn't going to do anything but keep upsetting me. And that wasn't something I needed at the moment.

Mark pulled up into my driveway. "Do you need me to stay?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Alright...call me if you need me, okay?"

I nodded and got out of the car. I didn't turn around to watch him pull back out of the driveway. I just went into the house, where I immediately saw Shannon and Evan sitting on the couch. "Jeff!" Shannon yelled. "James is back!"

Jeff immediately came into the room. "James what's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"Nothing," I lied.

He shook his head stubbornly. "James please, I thought something happened to you. I found Annabelle crying her eyes out and she wouldn't tell me what was wrong." He walked over to me and gently touched my face. "She mentioned your mom...did that bitch try to do something to you?"

If I wasn't in the mood I was in, I would have grinned. Jeff sounded so cute when he called Caroline a bitch. "I'll talk to you about it later, okay? I need to talk to Annabelle first and get some things straightened out with her first." Not to mention, I didn't want to have this conversation with Shannon and Evan in the house. It was hard enough even thinking about telling Jeff about this, so the other fresh meats couldn't know yet."

"Okay," Jeff said quietly. He looked reluctant to drop the subject but he did so. That was good. I didn't know what I would have done if he kept pushing me.

I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then went upstairs to Annabelle's room. When I got there, I found Cooper sitting up in his crib, making his little baby noises and staring at Annabelle, who was just staring up at the ceiling. I closed the door loudly, making her sit up and look at me. We just stared at each other for the longest time. That was all we could manage to do. But after several minutes of that, I had to speak up. "How could you keep that from me?" I asked. "How? Four years Annabelle. Four FUCKING years you kept that from me."

She shook her head. "You were better off not knowing. Trust me, ignorance was bliss for you."

"I don't fucking care about bliss!" I informed her. "You shouldn't have had to go through that alone."

"Well what was telling you going to do besides make you upset?" she asked. "I heard you on the phone. I heard what you did to her. I've never heard you that angry before in my life."

"Well I've never found out that my child had been killed before," I replied. I sat down on the bed with her. I looked down at my hands. They had been washed clean yet I still could feel the blood on them.

Annabelle sighed and wrapped her arms around me. "Mom said our baby would have been a freak. It would have been all deformed and retarded..."

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "It wouldn't have. I would have made sure of it."

"How?" she asked in confusion. "James, relatives aren't supposed to have babies with each other. I've heard of brothers and sisters having babies together and the babies come out wrong...add to the fact that we're twins..."

"What are you saying?" I asked. "That the baby was better off dead?"

"No!" She looked absolutely horrified by that suggestion. "How can you even ask me that? Our baby was alive and it deserved to live. But I'm just saying that you wouldn't have been able to control how the baby would have come out."

"Well I wouldn't have cared if the thing had six fucking heads," I told her. "I would have loved it anyway."

"I know," she said quietly. "I would have too." She sighed and looked at Cooper, who waved and shouted "Mama!". "When I lost that baby, it felt like a part of my heart got ripped right out of my chest. It hurt so bad that I thought it was going to kill me. I couldn't let you go through that too."

I rested my head against hers. "You still should have told me," I insisted. "It was my baby too. I had the right to know."

"Well you know now," she replied. "And do you feel any better about knowing?"

"No but--"

"So I rest my case. Caroline told you and made you absolutely miserable. You were better off not knowing." She got up and took Cooper out of his crib so she could hold him.

I sighed and laid down on her bed. This was just way too fucked up, even for my family. "Mark and Glenn are going to clean up the mess I made. I don't have to worry about that."

"That's good," Annabelle said quietly.

"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes. Fuck, my guilty feelings would not go away no matter how hard I tried to force them to.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop blaming yourself. Let's just put this behind us and move on."

I knew what that meant. She wanted to repress this. This was what she did when she couldn't handle something. But for once, that was perfectly okay with me. I wanted to do that too.

Of course, for me, it was going to be a hell of a lot easier said than done.


	20. Angel

Phil

"I think we should play a game," John announced.

I groaned. That was something I never liked hearing John say. It was a phrase that never led to anything good happening. "Do we have to?" I asked.

He pouted. "Yes. Why would you think that you had a choice in the matter?"

I sighed. I should have known that answer was coming. I had known John for years and I knew how he was. If he wanted to do something, then we were going to do it no matter what.

Mikre wrapped his arm around John and nuzzled his neck. "What kind of game did you have in mind baby?"

"If you say orgy, can we at least wait until I win this match?" Kofi asked without looking up. He was sitting on the floor, playing a wrestling video game. This had been the first time he had spoken since he had put the fucking thing in.

John shook his head. "No, I'm not going to say orgy. I want to say orgy, but Mike doesn't want to share me."

"Damn right I don't," Mike muttered.

"Anyways," John said, probably rolling his eyes at Mike (although we couldn't see him doing it because of the sunglasses), "I want to play Truth or Dare." He turned to face me. "Truth or dare?"

"Hold on, I thought we were waiting for Kofi," I pointed out.

"Uh no, we're not actually," John informed me. "I never actually agreed to Kofi's request to wait for him. Now come on, pick something. Truth or dare?"

"Um....truth."

"Do you have a crush on Jeff Hardy?"

I looked at him in shock. "What? No! Why would you think that?"

"Hey! There is no lying when you pick truth!" John snapped. He actually took off his sunglasses so he could look at me. "Come on man, you've liked him for awhile now. You told me so yourself once."

"I did not," I denied.

"Yeah you did. You just thought I was too drunk to actually remember."

Mike chuckled at the look on my face. "Hey man, there's no shame in liking him. If I didn't have JoMo here, I would totally go for him."

Kofi finally paused his game so he could join in on the conversation. "Miz, if you went after Jeff, you would get your head ripped off. Lawson's got a claim on him and if you two ever got into it, he would destroy you in three seconds flat."

Mike sighed unhappily. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Kofi." He looked away and muttered "Fucking jackass."

"No problem man," Kofi replied without missing a beat. He looked at me. "Dude, you actually like going to art class. I've known you since the first grade and you've always hated art, so the fact that you're excited about going--"

"Means I've grown as a person," I interjected.

"No, it means you're excited about seeing a certain rainbow haired introvert," John corrected.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I really hated my friends. They never knew how to let things go. "Look, I like talking to Jeff, okay? But that's it." I got up. "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" John asked.

"Bathroom," I replied. I left John's bedroom and went straight to the bathroom. The denials I had made about not liking Jeff were starting to sound hollow to my own ears. I tried to shake that off, but I couldn't. I groaned as I closed the bathroom door behind me. I didn't want to be thinking like this, but I couldn't stop myself. Before going to that damn art class, I hadn't really given much thought to Jeff. He was the quiet kid who avoided everyone except for Shannon and Evan, and they weren't kids I really had much contact with. But when I had talked to him that day in class, it was like I was actually seeing him for the first time. That sounded corny as hell, but I didn't know how else to describe it. Even though I had played it cool, I had really been amazed by how gorgeous Jeff really was. It was like whatever was going on between James and him had finally brought him out of his shell.

I shook my head. The fact that James Lawson had done anyone any good was absolutely amazing. During my thing with Mark, I had been forced to hang around with James a few times. And in those few times, I had learned that he was a complete and total psycho. His sister Annabelle was okay, but I hadn't liked him at all. The way he acted...there was just something off about him. Way way WAY off.

I sighed and rinsed my face off with cold water. It really didn't matter what I thought of James. Obviously Jeff liked the crazy bastard and judging from the way they acted in the hallways at school, the two of them weren't going to be breaking up any time soon. So even if I did like Jeff in the way that John and Kofi said I did, it wasn't like it would matter. Nothing was going to come from it as long as James was in the way. _And the last thing I want to do is fuck with a Lawson....that's a line no sane person would cross if they can help it._

......

Jeff

I sighed as I stared at the television. Shannon and Evan had to go to their houses to eat dinner so I had retreated to James's room. As far as I knew, he was still with Annabelle. I was worried about the both of them and I wanted to go find them and find out what was going on, but I didn't feel comfortable enough to do that. More than likely it wasn't any of my business, and I was afraid of them getting mad at me for trying to stick my nose into their business. So I just stayed sprawled out on the bed, watching reruns of Family Guy because there was nothing else on.

About halfway through the third episode, James came in and sat down on the bed with me. "Hey," he said.

"Hey." I grabbed the remote and turned the TV down. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess so." He scooted up so he could be closer to me. "Caroline's not coming back here. She's gone for good."

I blinked at him in surprise. "Really? Why not?" I gave him a sympathetic look. "Did she abandon you?"

He snorted. "Not really. It wasn't like she was much of a mother to begin with."

"Oh." I could sense the hate in his voice and was startled by it. I had never heard him sound like that before. "Was she um....did she..."

James sensed what I was too nervous to just flat out ask. "Yeah, she was abusive," he told me. "She never wanted me or Annabelle and she made sure we knew that every fucking day." He chuckled bitterly. "When I was little, I would have given anything to have her love me. I really would have. Even though I hated her because she treated me like shit, I still wanted her to love me." He shook his head. "That never happened of course. She wouldn't let it. There wasn't a loving bone in her body."

I noticed that he kept using past tense during his rant, but it wasn't something that I gave too much thought to. I was more concerned by how upset he was. "So where did she go?"

"Hell if I know," James muttered. "I just know that I couldn't live with her anymore." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "But you want to know what?"

"What?"

"Even though she's gone, it almost feels like she's still winning somehow. I mean, part of me feels really good that she's gone and I know that in the long run, me and Annabelle are going to be much happier in the long run. But I also keep playing the shit she used to do to me and Annabelle in my head over and over again and I can't make it stop." He rubbed his eyes. "And to find out she killed my baby--"

"Wait, what?" I nearly yelled. "She did what?"

He sighed. "Oh yeah, I didn't tell you that part yet." He bit his lower lip and hesitated for a minute before speaking again. "Back when my dad was around, we used to have to deal with him being a gross pervert. He loved sex with teenaged girls, especially when they were virgins. And when Annabelle hit puberty, he started looking at her in that way."

I immdiately felt sick to my stomach. "Oh God, he didn't--"

"No. I took the chance away from him."

"How did you do that?"

James took a deep breath, looked me in the eyes and said "I had sex with her first."

I just sat there, completely dumbfounded by that confession. "You did?" I finally managed to squeak out after several minutes of stunned silence.

He nodded. "I did. I did it to protect her. That was my intention anyway. After that one time though, there were a few other times that we did it again. People can say that that's sick and wrong, but that really doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that I just fucking found out that at one point she got pregnant and Caroline attacked her and made her have a miscarriage."

I blinked several times, still trying to wrap my head around the whole incest thing. Surprisingly, it didn't disgust me as much as it probably should have. Of course, given the situation that James and Annabelle had been in when it began, that probably had a lot to do with me being completely sympathetic. "Did Caroline know that Annabelle was pregnant?"

"Yup," James confirmed. "Hell, that's WHY she attacked her."

I sighed. Even though I really hadn't had any contact with Caroline, I found myself hating her for the hell she had put James and Annabelle through. "Fuck."

James nodded. "Yup. That sums everything up nicely."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"I know, but still..." I suddenly found myself being kissed for all I was worth. I kissed back for a moment but then I pulled away. "James--"

"Help me forget," he said breathlessly. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that he was pleading. "I can't think about her anymore. I need to focus on something else for awhile." When I didn't say anything else right away, he kissed me again. This time I didn't pull away from him. I just kissed him back, becoming light headed as the kisses became more and more heated as each and every second went by. Our clothes began flying off, and I began to tremble just a little bit. I remembered how much this had hurt when Matt had done it, and I was not looking forward to the pain.

"Relax," James whispered. "I'll take care of you." He lubricated his fingers with his own spit and then very slowly inserted one inside of me. I whimpered a little bit, but I soon relaxed completely underneath him. When he sensed that I was adjusting, he added anther finger and began scissoring them apart so that I was stretched. I squirmed as I felt him brushing my prostate. The little jolt that gave me made me want him to hit it even harder.

"Damn it, I don't think I have any lube in here," he muttered.

I shook my head. "I've got another idea. Lay back."

He looked a little surprised, but he did what I said. Losing his fingers inside of me was disappointing, but I quickly pushed that to the back of my mind. Instead I kissed my way down his body, getting closer and closer to his throbbing erection. _That's definitely going to hurt like a bitch_, I thought to myself as I wrapped my hand around the base of it and slowly licked the head of it.

"Oh fuck," he muttered. "Jesus Jeff, you don't have to...oh wait, what the hell am I saying?"

I giggled before taking the head of his dick into my mouth. I sucked on it a little bit before inching my way down, taking more and more of the length into my mouth. It was a weird feeling to be the one in control of the blow job because every time Randy made me give him one, he always ended up holding me by the hair and fucking my face as I tried not to gag too much. _I have to say, I definitely like this a whole fuck of a lot better._

"Holy shit," James groaned as I managed to get all of him in my mouth. "Jeff...."

My jaw was aching and I knew that my mouth and throat were going to be sore later, but I didn't care. I just kept sucking until he moved me away and rolled himself back on top. I gasped as he entered me in one swift motion, whimpering in pain just a little bit. The pain didn't last too long though. As soon as he began moving inside of me, the pain faded into pleasure, and I found myself wrapping my legs around him, begging and pleading with him to go faster. The fact that Annabelle and Cooper were still in the house was completely lost on me. The only things I could focus on were James and the intense pleasure I was feeling.

"Fucking hell Jeff," he grunted, kissing me all over my neck and on my lips. He had grabbed my dick and began stroking it in time with his thrusts. "So fucking tight..."

"James," I whimpered, digging my nails into his back. "Oh fuck please please go faster. Please...." I whimpered as he did was I requested, crying out loudly as he took me over the edge. I got so lost in the sea of pleasure that I hadn't realized he had cum too until he rolled off to my side. I immdiately snuggled up to him and closed my eyes. "Love you," I mumbled, drifting off before I ever heard his reply.

....

James

Jeff's confession of love kept me from falling asleep. I had been so startled by him saying it that I hadn't been able to say anything for a long time. He fell asleep almost as soon as he said it, so I just stayed up and watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful and pretty...okay, so I was sure that I did love him. But the problem was that he said he loved me without knowing the monster that resided in me. I had kept it from him this long, and I was sure that I could keep it from him for a little while longer. The thing was that if he was going to stay here for good, I wasn't going to be able to keep it from him forever. There was going to be a time that he was going to find out. _I guess we'll find out how strong that love is when that day comes_.

I sighed and carefully got out of bed. As much as I wanted to just stay in bed with him, there was one thing I had to do first. I quickly got dressed and then climbed out my window. It was chilly outside, but I didn't go back for a jacket. Instead I practically ran downtown, wanting to get this over with as fast as I could. I just needed something that would get me through the night. It was kind of like a midnight snack, but I wouldn't be actually eating anything.

Since I ran, it only took about ten minutes to get to where I was going. When I was there I slowed down and did my best to blend in. Not a whole lot of people were out at this time of night, but I did spot a young couple hanging off each other. They were attempting to walk down the street, but when they realized that they weren't getting anywhere, they stumbled into an alley for what was sure to be a full on makeout session. I looked around to make sure nobody was watching me. When I was sure that the coast was clear, I put on my rubber gloves and went into that alley too.

"This is so naughty," the girl purred happily. She was pushed up against the wall and the guy was busy groping her and kissing her neck. She had her eyes closed so she didn't see me coming. Smirking, I took my knife out of my pocket and drove the blade through the guy's back and got him right in the heart. He made a weird noise and twitched, and I quickly stabbed him three more times before the bitch opened her eyes and saw me. She tried to scream, but I hit her in the throat, cutting her right off. Tossing her boyfriend aside, I smashed the back of her head into the nearest building and then tossed her face down into the ground. Fueled with bloodlust, I stepped on the back of her head and then bent down so I could stab her in the neck over and over again. I had done this many times before, and by the time I was done, I was able to rip her head right off her body.

"There," I muttered. "That's better." Feeling better than I had all day, I dumped both bodies in the nearest dumpster and then went deeper into the alley. I was going to find somewhere else to get rid of the gloves and then I was going home to my Jeff, which was where I felt like I belonged at the moment.


	21. The Storm is Brewing

Jeff

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Cooper crying. I groaned and tried to ignore the sound. Cooper rarely cried that much, and when he did, he never did it for very long. He was a good baby like that.

I felt James pull me even closer to him. His morning wood poked me right in the stomach, making my breath get stuck right in my throat. I opened my eyes to look at him and saw that he was still fast asleep. The whole poking me with his boner thing probably wasn't intentional.

I closed my eyes again and memories about last night filled my head. That was what my first time SHOULD have been like. I should have lost my virginity to James. He would have been the perfect guy to lose it to. But because of Matt, that wasn't what happened. Matt was my first and no matter how hard I tried to erase the memory of that, he would always be my first. I bit my lip and wandered where he was and what he would say if he found out about me and James. _He would call you a slut_, a voice in the back of my head told me. _He would call you a filthy, dirty slut and he would punish you for that._

That thought made me tremble. The bruises Matt gave me from the last time I had seen him were just starting to really fade away and the marks made by the whip he had used could still be seen perfectly all along my back. Mark had told me that as many times as Matt had lashed me that night, I could scars for a very long time. _And I'll have more if he ever gets his hands on me again,_ I thought fearfully. _But I'll be lucky if I only escape with scars...he finds out I fucked James and he might KILL me._

My thoughts were interrupted by Annabelle coming into the room. She was holding Cooper with one hand and trying to button her blouse with the other. "Guys get up," she ordered. "We're going to be late if you don't hurry."

I sat up and looked at James, who was still snoring away. "I don't think he wants to get up," I said, pretty much stating the obvious.

Annabelle just rolled her eyes. "Of course he doesn't. Look just try to get him up while I finish getting dressed. If he's not up by then I'm gonna dump a bucket of water over him." She walked back out of the room, now trying to get Cooper to let go of the handful of her hair that he had in his hand.

I sighed and began trying to shake James awake. "James? James wake up. We have to get up."

"No," he mumbled sleepily. "We sleep in."

I just kept shaking him. "We have school today," I reminded him. "Remember?"

He groaned. "Fuck school. School sucks."

"I know, but Annabelle said she would dump a bucket of water on you if you didn't get up."

That made him open his eyes. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. He sat up and scratched his head, messing up his hair even more. "She'll do it too." He smirked. "Well since we're running so low on time, I think it would just be best if we showered together. That way we save time and water."

I giggled. I doubted very much that saving water and time was the reason he wanted to get into the shower with me, but that was beside the point.

He took my giggle as a yes and quickly got out of bed. "We're gonna have to hurry though," he told me as he grabbed us some clothes. "Annabelle won't be afraid to get a bucket of ice water and throw it on us while we're in there."

I didn't like the sound of that so I quickly jumped out of bed and followed him to the bathroom. We were in the shower in record time, but I almost slipped and fell as I was pushed up against the shower wall by a very eager James. Before I could regain my balance on my own, James had his strong hands on my waist and was kissing me for all I was worth. I kissed back as best as I could, but my whole body was turning to putty every time he touched me, and that included my lips. "James," I gasped while I tried to get the air back in my lungs. "James..." I couldn't even say anything but his name. That was the only coherent thought in my head.

James just chuckled and wet his fingers with the water raining down on us. "I like it when you say my name like that," he told me. "It's so fucking hot." He quickly took one of the fingers he had just gotten wet and slipped it inside of me. I gasped harshly, still sore from last night. "Relax," James said. "I've got you." He began fingering me slowly, waiting until I was completely relaxed before adding another finger. He stretched me out as much as he could while kissing my neck, poking my prostate every now and then. I was soon moaning and grinding up against him, begging for more. "You sure you're ready?" he asked.

I could only nod in response. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he removed his fingers and lifted one of my legs up so he could bury his dick deep inside of me. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. There was some slight pain still, but that was quickly being buried by the pleasure. I lifted my other leg up and wrapped it around his waist just as he pulled on my hair just enough to make me look at him. We kissed again, barely hearing the knock on the bathroom door. _If that's Annabelle, I hope she can wait,_ I thought to myself as I rested my head back against the shower wall while James attacked my neck with kisses. _I...I....oh fuck..._

I let out a loud moan as James changed the angle of his thrusts. He was hitting my prostate with each and every thrust and the pleasure that was building up within me was starting to drive me crazy. "James!" I whined as he avoided touching my aching cock. "Please!"

"Please what?" he asked, his eyes twinkling mischieviously.

"Touch me," I begged. "Please, I wanna cum."

"I can tell." James ran his calloused hand gently over my length, making my limbs go weak. I whined in frustration as he didn't touch it again and instead nipped on my ear. "Touch yourself for me," he whispered. "I want to watch you do it."

I whimpered again. I wanted him to touch it, but I was so desperate to cum that I grabbed a hold of my dick and stroked it as fast as I could. This egged James on to thrust even harder and faster than before, and it was a matter of seconds before we both went over the edge at the same time.

Before we got to even begin basking in the afterglow of our orgasms, the bathroom door was opened violently. The next thing I knew, buckets of freezing cold water were being thrown at us. "Alright, party's over!" Glenn said loudly. He and Annabelle were the ones that had thrown the water at them. "Break it up before I chokeslam the both of you."

"Yeah," Annabelle said, hiding behind Glenn while trying to act like she wasn't giggling at the fact that James was cursing about the cold water getting all over his ass. "I was SUPPOSED to be making out with Dave right now, but I'm not because you two--"

"Ahs goose goose!" James growled, turning off the water and stepping out of the shower.

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Glenn asked.

"I don't know yet," James snapped. He grabbed two towels and tossed one of them at me. "I'll tell you that when I figure it out." He dried himself off and got dressed. I was trying to do the same thing but I was also trying to hide behind the flimsy shower curtain so Annabelle and Glenn couldn't see me all exposed. I was just self conscious like that.

"So where's Mark?" James asked.

"He's not coming to school today," Glenn replied.

James frowned. "What? That mother fucker gets to play hooky--"

"He's not doing it to play hooky," Glenn said quickly. "There's just uh...well uh...let's just say he's busy."

"Busy with what?" I asked innocently as I stepped out of the shower fully dressed.

"Nothing," Annabelle and Glenn said at the same time. They suddenly seemed really nervous about something.

James rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand. "Forget about it," he told me. "It's probably nothing to worry about."

"Okay," I said, letting him lead me out of the room. For some strange reason though, I couldn't shake the nasty feeling that was forming in the pit of my stomach.

....

Mark

"Have you lost your fucking mind? Really, has Lawson turned you into a complete idiot? First you kidnapped two of your classmates and brought them here and then let Lawson completely slaugter one in my basement while you kept the other one as a human sex toy. And now you brought Lawson's fuck toy's--"

"You know, I can tell James what you just called Jeff," I snapped at Bearer. It was eight in the fucking morning and I did not appreciate getting yelled this early in the morning. "I would love to see him snap your fat neck."

Paul glared at me while shaking his head. "You kidnapped Jeff's aunt. Fucking Kelsey Hardy is in our damn basement now!"

"I didn't know who she was when I snatched the bitch from the airport last night!" I reminded him. I had said that about a thousand times and I was not getting listened to. It was very frustrating.

Paul just kept shaking his head. "What the hell is James going to tell that boy? Someone is going to have to tell him something about Matt eventually, and his aunt just can't go missing on him. He's going to start asking too many questions."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" I asked. "She saw my face last night. If I let her go and she runs into me again, I'm fucked three ways to Sunday."

"You shouldn't have let her se--"

"I didn't let her do it! I got kicked in the nuts with a really pointy high heel! You try thinking straight when it feels like your balls just got split in half!"

Paul pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well you need to figure out what to do with her and you need to do it fast. You can't keep her here. It's bad enough that the blonde whore you have in your room is still breathing."

"Dude, it's not fucking rocket science," I snapped impatiently. "I'll call James, make sure he knows what's going on--"

"Seeing as how Glenn already knows about this, James and Annabelle are going to know soon enough," Paul reminded me.

"Whatever. Look, I'll get James over here and then we'll take care of the bitch. You have nothing to worry about." I stormed out of the room before the fat bastard had a chance to say anything else about the matter. I knew that James would have no problem in getting rid of Kelsey, mainly because if she were to return, it would pose a problem for him and Jeff. There was no way she would allow the two of them to be together as much as they obviously wanted to be. In fact, if she would to end up having any sort of one on one time with James, she would probably do all she could to make sure he never got near Jeff again. He had a tendency to rub a lot of adults the wrong way. But if Kelsey turned up dead, it would be easier for him in the long run. And if I made his life easier, mine would be easier as well.

_So that settles it then_, I said to myself as I went up to my room to watch TV. _The bitch is gonna go. That should be all kinds of fun._

....

Jeff

When James, Annabelle, Glenn and I got to school, we were hit by big news: Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes had been murdered last night. Their mutilated bodies were found in a dumpster. I hadn't even known that they were people at my school, so the news didn't affect me like it did some people. James was also unaffected by it, so he obviously didn't know them either. But for some reason, both Glenn and Annabelle kept giving him these really weird looks. He acted like he didn't see them, but I know he did. The way he was getting more and more irritated with every second that went by. I was actually almost relieved when it came time for me to go to English. Mr. Striker made me feel like an idiot sometimes, but he was going to be a welcome break from all the strange tension between James, Glenn and Annabelle.

I tapped my pencil against my desk until class started, and then immediately regretted wanting to come here. We were not only reading _Hamlet_, but we were doing this really long worksheet about the damn play on top of it. I held on as long as I could, but soon I couldn't take it anymore. I hated reading Shakespeare stuff. It drove me crazy, and it was made worse by the fact that neither Shannon or Evan was in the class with me. At least they would be a nice distraction from this crap.

Deciding to be bold, I suddenly jumped up to my feet and clutched my stomach as I ran to the door. Everyone in my path quickly scooted back; they all thought I was going to puke. I grabbed the trash can before I went out the door and mumbled an apology to Mr. Striker. I ran down the hallway with the trashcan and then burst into the bathroom. Once I was in there, I checked to make sure nobody was in there before putting the trash can down and laughing like hell. It felt good to be free.

Of course there was one downside to being free: I had nobody to keep me company. As far as I knew, everyone was still in class. I thought about hanging out in the bathroom until the bell rang, but then I decided that was just too pathetic. So instead I opened the bathroom window and climbed out of it. I would just pass the time by taking a walk. Once this period was over, I would get James to skip some other classes with me. He hated school anyway and it would take very little persuading to get him to do it.

I started walking down to the railroad tracks when a car pulled up directly in front of me. I stopped dead in my tracks, at first startled by its sudden appearance but then even more startled by who was actually in the car. Through the passenger's side window, I could see Randy's cold eyes staring holes into me. Those cold eyes were promising to do all sorts of bad things and I immediately began turning around to run away. But before I got far, I was yanked back by the hair and found myself face to face with a seething Orton.

"You and I need to talk," he growled.

I gulped. His voice left no room for objection. _Oh fuck, I'm so screwed_.


	22. Close Calls

Jeff

"I don't want to talk to talk to you," I said, trying to sound braver than I actually felt. It was hard as hell to do though. At the moment, I was scared out of my mind. Randy was just as dangerous as Matt or Adam, and I had a terrible feeling that James wasn't going to find me in time like the last time Randy had me. "I want to go now." I tried to reach for the door handle and was immediately punched in the head for my efforts. I cried out in pain but couldn't do anything else as I was tossed into the backseat of the car.

"We're talking whether you want to or not," Randy growled. He got in the backseat with me so he could stop me in case I tried to escape again.

I tried to give him an angry glare but I knew that it was probably more fearful than anything else. I didn't know how I was going to stop Randy from doing something to me that I didn't want done. I really didn't. "Please, just let me out," I said, making a useless attempt to reason with him. "I'm supposed to be meeting with James and--"

"Fuck James," he growled. "I'm not scared of that fucking bastard."

"You should be," I replied. I meant that too. When James found out about this, he was going to go ballistic.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I didn't drag you in here to talk about James."

I tried to scoot away from him. I knew damn well what he had really dragged me in here for. He saw the fear in my eyes and it made him laugh. "Come on Jeff, don't be that way," he said, trying to act all nice all of a sudden. "I won't hurt you…if you don't force me to."

I flinched as he put his hand on my thigh. He noticed that and his eyes narrowed. He hadn't liked that at all. Before I knew what was happening, he grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me so close that I was maybe a half an inch away from his face. "Listen to me Jeff," he growled softly. "I don't give a fuck about what's going on between you and James, and I really don't give a fuck about whatever the deal Matt and Adam have about you. When I want something, I get it. You understand me?"

I just whimpered. Why was it always me? Matt, Adam, Randy--all of them wanted to hurt me. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? I didn't want any part of their sick games. I wanted to be left alone so I could be happy with James. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently it was, because the next thing I knew, he was kissing me roughly. I began beating his chest with my fists as hard as I could, but that only encouraged him to begin laying me down on the backseat. My heart almost stopped beating as his hand began groping my crotch. _No no no…_I thought desperately. I was still struggling to deal with the fact that Matt had raped me twice, so I really didn't need Randy adding to that.

As he started unbuttoning my jeans, I managed to somehow to knee him in the groin. He groaned in pain and I took advantage of the situation by pushing him off of me and barely escaping from the car. I took off running as fast as I could, knowing that if he caught me again, I was really fucked.

When I got back to the window that I had climbed out of in the first place, I practically jumped right through it. I landed really hard on my shoulder and scared the holy hell out of Phil, who had been in there innocently washing his hands.

"Holy shit!" he yelled. He quickly turned off the faucet and shook his hands off as he came to check on me. "Jeff! Are you okay?"

"Shut the window," I said quickly. My shoulder was absolutely killing me. I had really fucked it up when I landed on it. "Hurry!"

Phil looked confused as hell, but at least he shut the window. "What the hell were you running from?" he asked as he knelt down beside me.

"Randy Orton," I answered. I slowly sat up and took a deep breath. That had been way too close for comfort.

"Oh. What the fuck did he want with you?"

I bit my lip. I didn't really want to talk about that. Luckily Phil got the message and decided to just drop it. "Here, let me help you up," he said. He helped me get up to my feet, being careful not to jar my hurt shoulder. "You should go to the nurse and get that looked at," he told me. "That landing you took was pretty nasty."

I sighed. The nurse's office wasn't exactly the most appealing place to me, but with the way my shoulder was throbbing, it probably would be better if at least got an icepack for it. "Okay," I said. "Could you um…could you walk me there? I don't really want to go by myself."

He nodded. "Sure."

Feeling a tiny bit better, I followed him out of the bathroom. After I got checked out by the nurse, I needed to tell James about what Randy had tried to do. He couldn't get away with this. He would never stop if I didn't have James make him stop.

"So are you going to that September Fest thing this weekend?" Phil asked, breaking the silence that had settled between us.

I nodded. "Is there anyone not going to it?" I asked with a very small smile. I had never been to a September Fest before, but I knew that it was a big deal. Judging from all the talk I had lately, it seemed like over half the city was going to be there.

"I don't think so," Phil said, returning my smile with one of his own. "You going with anyone particular?"

"James," I answered. "And our friends. What about you?"

He shrugged. "I was just gonna catch a ride with my friends."

"Cool." I rubbed my shoulder. The pain was now just a dull throb. Maybe I hadn't hurt it as much as I thought I had.

When we got to the nurse's office, we both stopped and just kind of looked at each other. Phil had shoved his hands into his pockets and started chewing on his lip ring. "You want me to go in with you or are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine," I assured him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He grinned a little and walked away. I watched him go for a second, not really sure why I was doing it. Finally I snapped myself out of my trance and went in to see the nurse. _Hopefully Randy doesn't come in here before I get to James. I'm fucked if he finds me again._

…

James

My curiosity about what Mark had done got the best of me, and after biology I left Annabelle with Glenn and snuck into an empty computer lab so I could call Mark and have some privacy while I did it. When he answered his phone and told me that he currently had Jeff's aunt Kelsey in his basement, I really didn't believe him. "You can't be serious," I said in disbelief. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't realize who the bitch was until I got her back to my house," Mark said defensively. "I was out looking for a victim because I was bored and I just snatched her because she was the most convenient person available. It wasn't until I chained her into the basement and then looked through her wallet that I realized who she was."

I sighed and sat down in the nearest chair. "Well what the fuck do we do now? I mean, if she just disappears, it's going to get noticed and then the cops could get involved. And if she turns up dead, the cops are definitely getting involved."

Mark sighed. "Well she has to die. We can't just let her go now. It's just not possible." He was quiet for a moment. "I think if we kill her and make sure her body turns up--"

"What the fuck--"

"Just listen to me for a minute Lawson. I think I've finally come up with a decent idea. I'll kill the bitch here and then I'm going to cash in a favor with Scott and have him set it up so it looks like some crazy cult killed her."

"And that helps us how?"

"It helps us because it will look like she got snatched when she was leaving the airport and there's been some cult activity going on the next town over. The suspicion will automatically go to them instead of anyone here."

I sighed. That sounded good to me. It wasn't like I was going to come up with a better idea any time soon. "Go for it," I told him. "I'll talk to you when school's over, alright?"

"That's fine with me. See ya later Lawson."

I hung up the phone and stood up so I could put it in my pocket. The damn thing went off though and almost made me drop it. "What the fuck?" I muttered as I looked at it. Jeff was calling me. A little confused, I flipped the phone back open and pressed the button to answer it. "Jeff?"

"James? Can you come meet me at the nurse's office?"

"Why? What happened?"

"I um…I had a confrontation with Randy…"

"What?" I nearly yelled. "What did he do? Did he hurt you? I'll fucking kill him!"

"He tried to…he tried to…look, he didn't do what he wanted to do. I got away from him before he could do anything too bad," Jeff said, stuttering at the parts where he tried to say what Randy attempted to do with. But even though he hadn't been able to tell me what the bastard had tried to do, I already knew what had almost happened. There was only one thing a piece of shit like Orton would want from Jeff.

"Stay there," I told him, already walking out of the computer lab. "I'll be down there in two minutes."

"Okay."

I hung up my cell phone and stuck it in my pocket. I was so pissed off that my hands were shaking. Orton was going to fucking die when I got my hands on him. I would make damn sure of that**.**


	23. Hunting

James

"So what exactly is the plan here?" Glenn asked as he followed me. "Are we going to break into Randy's house and take him out right there.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know?"

"Because I don't have a big, detailed plan Crispy!" I snapped. The both of us were cutting through people's backyards so we could get to Orton's house faster. Jeff was home with the rest of the gang (minus Mark…he was still waiting for Scott to come and help him get rid of Kelsey's body) and I was pretty sure that since Dave and Sparky were both their, Jeff would have enough protection in case Orton came knocking on the door. "What I know is that I'm going to kill Orton and I'm going to kill him horribly. That's all I know right now and quite frankly, that's all that _needs_ to be known."

Glenn shook his head. He hadn't wanted to come with me in the first place; the only reason he had even bothered was because Annabelle had begged him to. For some reason, she didn't want me doing this on my own. Whether it was because she was afraid that Randy would try to get the jump on me somehow or because she was afraid that I would do something really wild and out of control, I wasn't quite sure. What I was sure of was that I didn't want or need Glenn's help. I could do this on my own.

"Maybe you should stop and think about this a little bit," Glenn said as we climbed the fence to get into Randy's backyard.

I stopped and glared at him. "What's there to think about?" I asked angrily. "Randy tried to hurt Jeff. Randy must die. Why in the world do I need to say more?"

Glenn sighed impatiently. "Look, I understand wanting to protect Jeff. And I don't necessarily disagree with offing Orton…at least not on principle…"

"So what the fuck is the problem then?" I really was not seeing the point that he was currently trying to make.

"The problem is that I don't think this is actually the smartest thing to do," Glenn explained. "I mean, Matt and Adam were such assholes that everyone is glad that they "ran off", but--"

"Oh, speaking of Adam, did Mark…you know?" I made a slitting throat gesture.

Glenn shook his head. "Not yet. Bearer is getting on his ass about it., so hopefully he'll do it soon to shut that fat fuck up."

"Why hasn't he done it yet?"

"Well he figures that since you've got Jeff, he can have a play thing of his own."

I smirked. "Is that code for he's jealous?" I liked the thought of Mark being jealous. It got me all hot and bothered.

Glenn shrugged. "Don't ask me. I don't like getting into Mark's mind. It's just a scary place to be."

I disagreed with that but it wasn't something I was going to get into at the moment. I hid behind the tree that was in the yard and studied the house carefully. From where I was standing, it appeared that nobody was home. That was both good and bad. It was good in the sense that it would let me sneak in the place and let me get the jump on Orton as soon as he got home. But as smart as that would be for me to do, I was too angry and impatient to do it. I wanted Orton and I wanted him now. "Come on," I ordered. "I don't think he's here."

Glenn blinked in surprise. "Well if we're not staying here, where are we going to go?"

"We're going to track down Orton's bitches," I replied. "He's more than likely with one or the other."

"Oh Jesus Christ," Glenn muttered in exasperation. He looked ready to cause a stink but I shut him right up with a glare. I was not listening to his crap today. If he didn't want to be a part of this, he could just go the fuck away. I was not in the mood to fuck around with him right now.

The first bitch I decided to go visit was Cody. His house was a lot closer to Randy's place than Ted's house was. When Glenn and I got there, we caught Cody just coming out of his house and starting to walk down the street. We followed him from the distance until he was out of sight out of his house and then I grabbed him from behind and slammed him up against a tree. He started to let out a yell but I quickly put my hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Jesus Christ James!" Glenn exclaimed under his breath. He looked up and down the street to see if anyone was watching us.

I ignored him in favor of glaring daggers at Cody. To his credit, the twink was smart enough to look scared to death. "Where's Randy?" I growled, moving my hand from his mouth to his throat, squeezing just hard enough to let him know that if he gave me an answer that I didn't like, I would snap his neck in a heartbeat.

"I don't know," Cody whimpered. He was trying to pry my fingers off his neck but it wasn't working too well. "James I swear--" The rest of what he was trying to say was cut off by me throttling him.

"You're a fucking little liar," I growled, even though my instincts were telling me he was telling the truth. "You know EXACTLY where he is and if you don't tell me where he is, I'm going to start breaking your bones."

Cody turned about five shades paler. He knew that I wasn't joking around. "Please," he begged, his voice barely audible because I was squeezing his neck so hard. "I…don't know…where…"

"Where he is?" I rolled my eyes before kneeing him in the groin just for fun. "Well you're going to find out." I pulled him up to his feet so I could get his cell phone out of his pocket. "You're going to call him for me. And if you even _think_ about warning him about me, I will make you regret it. You understand me?"

He nodded. It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter. With shaky hands he took the phone from me and dialed Randy's phone number. He refused to make eye contact with me as he did so. I looked back at Glenn, who was just shaking his head. I rolled my eyes at him and just tapped my foot impatiently.

"Randy?" Cody said, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "It's me. Hey um…where are you?" He winced and closed his eyes. "I was just wondering---Randy wait---fuck!" He opened his eyes again. "He hung up on me. He's really pissed off right now. I don't think he'll tell me where he is if I call him back."

I glared at him for a moment, smirking when he shrank back in fear. "Alright," I said. "But if you're lying to me in any way or if you really know where he is--"

"I don't," Cody said quickly. "And I'm not. I swear."

"Yeah. Whatever." I walked away from him shaking my head in frustration. It looked like my plan to kill Randy before dinner wasn't going to work out the way I wanted it to.

…

Mark

"Jesus Christ on a cross, did you stop to pick your fucking ass or something?" I asked Scott as I let him in the house. "What the fuck took you so long?"

Scott, who was more commonly known as Raven throughout the town, rolled his eyes at me. "Don't give me your shit Callaway," he snapped. "I don't even have to do this for you you know. I could leave you hanging right now."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Hey, you're the one who owed me a favor," I reminded him. "You do this for me and we're even."

"Whatever man." He was trying to act like he didn't give a shit about that, but I knew he did. Awhile back I had bailed him and his little flunky Stevie Richards out of jail after they had been arrested on some assault charge. I even convinced Bearer to help them hire a good lawyer, and that lawyer actually managed to get the case thrown out completely. It was nothing I had needed to get involved in at all, but I had done so because I knew that if I scratched dear old Raven's back, I could get him to scratch mine whenever I needed him too. He was a demented son of a bitch, but he was a useful one, so it worked.

"Come on, the body's down here," I said, leading him to the basement. On our way there, we happened to walk past Bearer. He glared at us like we were both Satan himself before walking off without saying a word to either of us. "Fucking bastard needs to get his panties out of a bunch," I muttered.

Scott wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Dude, I don't even want to picture Bearer wearing panties. That is like wrong on so many levels."

I thought about that and realized I agreed one hundred percent with that statement. Shuddering in revulsion, I stopped and pointed to Kelsey Hardy's body, which I had thoughtfully dismembered and stuffed into a duffel bag before he had got here. "She's in there," I said. "Get rid of her as soon as you can. And if you even think about keeping any of the parts--"

"You'll string me up from a very tall tree," Scott said with a shake of his head. He sounded bored by my very real threat. "Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before Callaway." He picked up the duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder.

I shook my head. "Just get it done Levy."

He mock saluted me before going back upstairs and going out the front door. I went upstairs too but instead of staying where Bearer could come and start lecturing me again, I went up to my room. "Oh Adam," I said with a grin. I looked at the blonde who was chained up and naked on my bed. "I'm back."

Adam groaned. He had given up trying to get free from his chains every time I came into the room awhile ago. Either he had realized that he wasn't getting away or he just didn't have enough strength to keep doing it. "Mark please, just leave me alone," he pleaded.

"Now why would I do that?" I asked. I began running my hands up and down his chest, making him shiver. "I mean, you never left anyone else alone." I began scratching at his torso, leaving long rivers of blood in my wake. "All the things you've done…you've always been a piece of shit Copeland. So arrogant…you thought you were a tough guy, didn't you?" I laughed. "Now look at you. You're all tied up and completely at my mercy." I grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked back on it as hard as I could. "Tell me…_Addy_…who's bitch are you?"

"Yours," he said quietly.

I yanked at his hair again. "What was that now?"

"I said yours," he said more loudly, whimpering in pain as he did so. "I'm your bitch. I--ow ow ow ow! Mark let go!"

I kept my hold on him for a moment longer than necessary before letting go and walking away so I could lock my door. "Good bitch," I said as I began stripping myself of my clothes. "It's nice to see that your learning." I grabbed my knife off my dresser before getting on the bed with him. His body was covered with cuts that were in various stages of the healing process. Since James had been busy with Jeff, I had been spending a lot of time playing with dear Adam. The fact that he was not only fun to mess with but a pretty little bitch on top of it was the only thing saving his ass from ending up like Matt at the moment. He entertained me to no end--although as soon as he stopped being fun, I would dispose of him without hesitation. There was no question about that.

"Oh fuck not again," Adam muttered as I traced the blade of the knife along the inside of his thighs. "Mark wait--" He let out a low moan of pain as I made several long cuts to both of his thighs. I watched him squirm around in pain before leaning forward and started sucking on the cuts as hard as he could. Now normally I'm not one of those freaky, blood drinking wannabe vampires, but during our previous sessions, I had discovered that doing actually got Adam hard, which was something I loved taking advantage of. It made everything that much more fun.

"Oh fuck…Mark please…shit…damn it stop that!" Adam ordered, trying to sound like I should listen to him or something. He whimpered as I started sucking harder than before. Any further protests were silenced as I wrapped my hand around the base of his dick and squeezed it tightly.

"You aren't fooling me Copeland," I said with a shake of my head. I stroked him a couple of times, getting a low groan for my efforts. "You and I both know you like this." I let go of his dick and positioned myself over him. "You love being a bitch," I told him, pulling his hair again as I slammed into him. He made a sound that sounded like a mix between a scream and a moan. I pulled almost all the way back out before slamming in again, smirking when I felt him start to bleed. The feel of his blood coating my dick only caused me to fuck him harder.

"Ow…oh fuck…Mark stop," he moaned pitifully. He was shaking his head from side to side, closing his eyes so he could avoid looking at me. "Shit…ow Mark please--"

"Please what?" I growled, pulling on his hair again until he opened his eyes. "You want me to stop?"

He nodded.

"You're a liar," I told him. I let go of his hair and began stroking his cock in a very rough manner. He moaned loudly and seemed to immediately forget about wanting me to stop. In fact, he began thrusting up into my hand as much as he could. "Look at you," I said in amusement. "Such a fucking slut." I kept stroking him until he was on the brink; then I quickly grabbed the base of his dick and put it in a vice grip so he couldn't cum.

"No," he whined pathetically, trying to wiggle around so my hand would move. "Mark--"

"Shut up," I growled, biting his lower lip so hard that it started bleeding like crazy. He whimpered in pain but kept quiet as I continued to pound into his body. His whimpering and whining eventually got to me, and I shot my load deep inside of him before pulling out and getting off the bed. His dick was still hard as a rock and it was begging for release. "Hmmm, I should do something about that," I said as I put my clothes back on. I stared at it for a second before laughing and shaking my head. "But I won't." I smacked him on the chest hard enough to leave a handprint before grabbing my knife and leaving the room. Whether he came or not on his own was not my concern. My only concern at the moment was making sure Bearer didn't get an anchovies on the pizza again tonight. If he pulled that bullshit again, I was going to gut him like a fish. I fucking hated anchovies.


	24. Sitting Ducks

Jeff

"Dude, would you stop pacing around so much?" Shannon asked me impatiently. "You're kind of making me feel motion sick over here."

I shook my head and continued my pacing. I couldn't relax even if I tried. James had been gone for a couple of hours now and I was really starting to get worried. "Can you try calling him again?" I asked Annabelle. I knew it wasn't going to do much good because he hadn't answered it the first ten times we had called, but I didn't know what else to do at this point.

Annabelle sighed. She was being as patient as she could with me and not showing whether or not I was driving her nuts. "Honey, he and Glenn didn't answer the first ten times we called. I'm not sure what is going to make this time any different."

"But can't you try?" I asked hopefully. "I mean, what if something happens to them?" To be honest, I was more concerned about James than Glenn, but I didn't want to admit that in front of everyone and sound like a complete jackass.

"Jeff calm down" Dave said gently. "Those two are more than capable to handle Randy and any of his friends "

"But what if Matt and Adam show up?" The fear of them was much worse than my fear of Randy. Randy had never managed to hurt me the way they had. And the fact that they still hadn't made a move since Matt had raped me was really starting to make me antsy. They were up to something. They were plotting some evil scheme to get me and hurt me again.

Evan gave me a sad look before embracing me. "Oh Jeff…"

Annabelle walked over to me and gently cupped my face into her hands. "Honey listen to me," she said quietly but firmly. "I can guarantee you that neither Matt or Adam is ever going to touch you again, alright? They are gone and they are never going to hurt you again."

"You don't _know_ that," I insisted. "You don't know them the way I do. They're going to come back and they're going to--"

"No they are not!" Annabelle said, actually raising for the first time in…well I didn't know how long because it wasn't like I had known her forever. "They are not going to get you. Do you really think James would be off chasing down Orton if he wasn't sure that Matt and Adam were no longer a threat?"

I hadn't really thought of it that way before. But if that was true, then that had to mean that James had done something to the both of them to keep them out of the way. "Did James…did he do something to Matt and Adam?"

Annabelle paused for way too long before finally answering me. "Let's just say they found out the consequences of messing with you," she said slowly. "And let's leave it at that."

Shannon raised his eyebrows. "Well fuck, that sounded creepy as shit."

I looked into Annabelle's eyes and realized that it was going to be completely pointless to keep arguing with her about this. She seemed utterly convinced that Matt and Adam were gone for good. "Can we please try calling James again?" I asked as I tried to detangle myself from Evan. I didn't really want to have him clinging to me while I was trying to start pacing again. "Please?"

Dave sighed and grabbed his phone. "Mother fuckers better--damn it!" He quickly hung up his phone in frustration. "I'm not even getting a voicemail now. I think he shut his phone off."

"He probably did," Annabelle said. "He's done it before. It's frustrating as hell when you want to get a hold of him, but it usually means that it's best just to leave him alone. He'll be back soon enough."

"So what the hell do we do until then?" Shannon asked.

"We could watch a movie," Evan suggested.

The others all latched on to that idea so fast that I didn't even get a chance to protest it. Sensing that I wasn't going to win the argument if I started it, I reluctantly sat down on the couch and let everyone else pick out what we were going to watch. _If James isn't back in an hour, I'm going to do something,_ I vowed to myself as I began to chew on my fingernails. I had absolutely no idea what I planned to do, but I knew that it had to be something. I was tired of being the helpless damsel in distress and I was sure as hell sick of just sitting around and waiting with people who didn't seem to understand my fears. Even if it was just finding James and making sure he was alright, that would at least be something.

…

James

After Glenn and I had terrorized Cody, we continued searching for Randy, which was proving to be a lot more difficult than it needed to be. I tried to keep my cool at least a little bit, but when Glenn suggested that we take a break and try again later, I totally lost it and yelled at him until he got tired of it and called Mark. The conversation that followed involved Glenn yelling at Mark and telling him to get his ass to us now so he could deal with me. I don't know what Mark said in response to that, but he did come down and took Glenn's place on this hunt, so I didn't actually care. I liked hunting with Mark better than Glenn. Glenn wasn't nearly as fun as my Marky.

"Ugh, I've checked this mother fucker's house like four times now," I grumbled as we went back to Randy's place. "He hasn't been here any of those times."

"Yeah well, let's check one more time," Mark said with a shake of his head. "I mean, what the hell is it going to hurt?"

It wasn't really going to hurt anything; I was just frustrated. I wanted Randy's head on a stick and I wanted it now. "So why haven't you killed Adam yet?" I asked just out of curiosity.

"Because he's fun to play with," Mark replied with a shrug. "It's the same reason why you haven't dropped Jeff yet."

I frowned. "What are you talking about? My thing with Jeff is nothing like your thing with Adam. I--"

"What? Care about him?" He shook his head. "Maybe you do, but let's get real Lawson. Do you think he's going to accept you when he finds out what you really are?"

I just shrugged. I hadn't really thought about that before now. "I don't know…he might."

"Yeah, and a unicorn might come flying out of my ass at any moment," Mark muttered under his breath.

I quickly looked at his ass and tried to assess whether that a unicorn was magical enough to somehow fit in such a tight space. When I decided that it wasn't, I looked back up at Randy's house and saw that there was a light on up on the second floor. "Finally!" I said, feeling a bit better now. I wasn't sure if it was actually Randy up there, but I didn't care Whoever it was, they were going to die a horrible and painful death. And that was a straight up fact.

Mark and I snuck up the back porch and he picked the lock on the back door. Once it was unlocked, we snuck in and I signaled for Mark to check the rest of the house while I went upstairs. He gave me a look that told me to watch my back and I nodded before I quickly and quietly crept up the stairs. I heard lots of grunts and moans coming from one of the bedrooms, so that was the first place I looked. _Well look what we have here,_ I thought evilly as I snuck into the room. Randy was fucking dear old Ted doggie style right before my eyes. Part of me was tempted to wait until they were done just so I could watch, but my intense need to have Orton dead overrode the whole hotness of the situation.

Moving quicker than most people thought I could, I was over on the bed and driving into Orton's back before he or Ted realized that I was in the room. He let out a surprised grunt and looked back at me with wide eyes. I grinned at him before throwing him back so I could grab Ted by the hair and slash his throat. "Oh Orton, you should have just left Jeff alone," I said with a shake of my head. I watched as blood began to pour out of his mouth, amused by the way he was trying to move back in an effort to get away from me. "You might have made it tomorrow if you would have." I lunged forward and began stabbing him multiple times. Blood was going everywhere, soaking the sheets and flying on to the ceiling, walls and me. But I absolutely refused to stop until I heard a crash coming from downstairs. "What the fuck was that?" I muttered under my breath as I went downstairs to investigate.

As it turned out, the noise was Mark not only offing Randy's parents, but his siblings as well. I got down there just in time to see him stabbing Randy's brother in the chest and then wrapping a cord around his sister's neck and choking the life out of her. "Having fun?" I asked.

He nodded as he snapped the sister's neck for good measure. "Yup. I'm good." He looked at the mess he had made. "You get Randy?"

"I got him and Ted," I said happily. I chuckled and shook my head. "You know we have to do something about this, don't you?"

"I know," he said unhappily. He wiped some of the blood that had gotten on his face before looking at me. "Want to steal their cash while we're at it?"

I nodded. "Sure. We could use it to get a pizza once we're done getting rid of these mother fuckers."

"Forget pizza. I want Chinese tonight."

I shook my head. I didn't want Chinese tonight, but I wasn't going to protest now. That argument could wait until we were done here.


	25. Rising Suspicions

Jeff

When James got back later that night, he wouldn't tell me where he had been or what he had done exactly. All he had said was that he had taken care of things and Randy was never going to bother me again. I tried over and over again to get more information out of him, but he refused to tell me anything. I would have been better off talking to a brick wall. Finally I just gave up and ate the Chinese takeout he and Mark had brought back with them.

"So what should we watch now?" Dave asked as Annabelle took out Death Sentence, which was what we had started watching when we had been waiting on James and Mark to return.

"We could watch Sherlock Holmes," Mark said, looking at the stack of movies that were sitting on the coffee table. "We haven't seen that one yet."

"There's always 2012 though," Glenn said. He had shown up not long after Mark and James had and for some reason, he kept looking at James like he wanted to throttle him or something. I almost asked why but I figured that I wouldn't get an answer about that either so I didn't bother.

"I don't want to watch 2012," Mark snapped.

"Why not?" Evan asked.

"Because it wasn't my idea!"

James rolled his eyes. "You want to know what I want to watch?"

"Repo: the Genetic Opera," Mark, Glenn and Annabelle all said at the same time.

James raised his eyebrows. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Because that's _all_ you ever want to watch," Annabelle replied. "And we're tired of it. We want to watch something new for once."

James pouted and looked at me for support. "They're so mean to me Jeffey," he complained. "They never want to do what I want to do."

I patted his leg to show my sympathy. "There there. It's going to be okay."

"That was far from comforting."

"Yeah well, I kind of agree with them. You obsess way too much about that movie."

He looked insulted. "Jeff! I--" The doorbell rang, cutting him off before he could really get started. "What the fuck?" he said, glancing back at the door. "Who the fuck could that be?" he asked.

"Maybe you should answer the door and find out," Shannon suggested.

"Quiet you," James ordered. He looked at Annabelle and stuck out his bottom look. "Do you want to be a sweetheart and go answer that for me?" He was trying to sound as sweet as possible, but all he was doing was creeping the rest of us out.

Annabelle sighed and reluctantly went to the door. Mark and Glenn continued to argue about what movie to watch while Evan, Shannon and Dave looked on with great interest. I rested my head on James's shoulder and started to close my eyes. I was actually really kind of tired now and didn't think I could stay up through yet another movie.

"Jeff!" Annabelle called out. She was back in the living room maybe a couple of seconds later. "Jeff come here."

"Why?" I asked, opening my eyes back up and looking at her.

She swallowed heavily. Her face had paled quite a bit and she looked like she was going to have a panic attack or something. "There's two cops outside wanting to talk to you."

My eyes widened. Cops? What did they want with me? I looked at James, who had an unreadable expression on his face. Mark and Glenn had stopped fighting and were exchanging looks. Dave, Shannon and Evan were all staring at me and I gulped. "What do they want?" I finally asked.

"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me."

I looked back at James. "Come with me?" I asked.

He sighed and nodded, even though it appeared that was the last thing he wanted to do. I let out a very tiny sigh of relief knowing that he had my back before we got up and went out to the front door. "Which one of you is Jeff?" the cop on the right asked.

"Me," I said, looking back and forth between them in confusion. I still had no idea what they could possibly want with me. "I'm Jeff."

The cop nodded. "Jeff, I'm Detective Gellar and this is my partner Detective Summers. We're sorry to have to tell you this, but the body of your Aunt Kelsey was discovered just a short while ago. From the looks of it, we're more than sure that her death was a homicide."

I blinked at him, not really comprehending what he had just said. "What?" I finally stammered out, looking back and forth between them. "You're joking. She's…she's away on business. That's all."

"Jeff um…I don't think they're joking," James told me quietly. "They look pretty serious about this."

I looked back at him and then looked back at the detectives. It didn't take me too long to figure out that he was right. "Oh fuck," I muttered. I shook my head and backed up until I was right against the door. I couldn't believe this was happening yet again. Why was my whole family dying right and left? First Mom and then Dad and now Aunt Kelsey…"Fuck fuck fuck…"

"Jeff?" James said, grabbing on to me and trying to look into my eyes. "Jeff!"

"I…I need to go inside," I said, not talking to anyone in particular. I slipped out of James's grip and stumbled back into the house. The others were all standing by the front door, obviously trying to eavesdrop what was going on. "What's wrong?" Dave asked when he saw the look on my face. "What happened?"

I took several deep breaths, trying to regain my composure. "My aunt Kelsey is dead," I finally managed to say.

Evan's eyes widened. "What?" he said in disbelief. "Oh my God. What happened?"

I shook my head. "I don't really know. They said it was a homicide but I didn't stick around to find out much more." I walked back over to the couch and sat down. My legs felt way too weak to even continue to stand.

Shannon and Evan both sat down on either side of me and began trying to comfort me, although I didn't really acknowledge their efforts. Dave hovered near me, looking very awkward and uncomfortable. He wasn't exactly good at dealing with this sort of thing.

I could hear the sound of Annabelle, Mark and Glenn talking amongst themselves, but I couldn't concentrate on what they were saying. Of course, it was also hard finding the ability to care right at the moment. I was too busy really being in shock. What was going to happen to me now? I was only fourteen. I wasn't going to be allowed to live on my own. What if none of my other relatives agreed to take me in? What if I had to go to a foster home? Or what if I did get taken in by one of my relatives, but they were one of the ones that lived out of state? That would mean I was going to get separated from James and the others. And what if--and this was the most terrifying thought of all--what if Matt came back and stood up and took custody of me? Adults who really didn't know him saw him as very mild mannered and very responsible. It would probably be easy for him to manipulate everyone and tricking them into giving him custody of me. And if that happened, I would be as fucked as humanly possible.

I lost track of how long I just sat there, not listening to a word Shannon and Evan were saying. When I did finally start paying attention again, I noticed that James was kneeling down in front of me and shaking me a bit to get my attention. "I'm fine," I said, my voice flat and dull. "I'm fine."

James shook his head. "Yeah right. You're about as all right as I am sane." He sighed and gave me a serious look. "The pigs want to ask you a few questions about your aunt. Do you think you can answer them or do you want us to see if we can get them to go away and come back later?"

I just shrugged. I was too numb both inside and out to really care. Even though Aunt Kelsey and I weren't really that close, she had taken care of me for the past several years so there had been a bond there (at least there had been for me--I wasn't quite sure about her).

"Let's just get them in here and get it over with," Mark said impatiently.

Dave glared at him. "It's not up to you jackass. If Jeff doesn't feel like talking--"

"I'm okay," I said again, although I wasn't one hundred percent sure who I was talking to. I felt like I should be crying like people normally did when these kinds of things happened, but my mind was refusing to leave the numb stage. It felt like my mind was refusing to believe what I had been told in order to protect me from really feeling anything associated with grief.

James looked at Glenn, who sighed and left the room. When he returned, he had the detectives with him. "Jeff we understand that this is difficult for you," Detective Summers said as he and his partner sat down. "And we are truly sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

Detective Gellar got out his notepad and flipped it open. "We don't want to take up too much of your time so let's get right down to business. When was the last time you spoke to your aunt?"

"The morning she left for her trip," I answered.

"And when was that exactly?"

"A couple weeks ago."

Detective Summers raised his eyebrows. "That's an awful long time, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "Aunt Kelsey got absorbed in her work. It was normal for her."

"When did you expect her back?"

I had to stop and think about that one. I had gotten so absorbed with my own problems I had almost completely forgotten about my own aunt. "A couple days ago," I finally answered. "But sometimes her trips ran late so I thought that was the case again."

"Do you know if she had anyone that would want to hurt her?" Detective Gellar asked.

I shook my head.

"Okay…here's another question for you: where is your brother Matt?"

I gulped. "I…I don't know."

"You don't know?" Detective Summers gave me a suspicious look. "Your neighbor said he was in charge of you while your aunt was away."

I looked down at my lap. I didn't want to talk about this. The last thing I wanted to get into was the hell Matt put me through when we were together. Lucky for me, this was were James decided to get into the conversation.

"Nobody has seen Matt in days," he said, taking my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "The rumor is that he and his boyfriend Adam flew the coop."

The detectives looked at each other and Gellar took a note of that. "Well we'll be in touch, okay?" Summers said gently.

I nodded, not looking up until Glenn escorted the officers out. I let out a shaky sigh and looked at James, who was looking at Mark. There was something really weird about the looks and I wasn't the only one who was noticing it; I could tell that Dave, Shannon and Evan were seeing it too. Sparky wandered in at that moment and came on the couch to sit by me. I began petting his head, silently asking him what the hell was up with his owner. He merely licked my face in response, not really answering the question for me.

"So uh…what the fuck do we do now?" Glenn asked when he came back in.

If that wasn't the question of the hour, I didn't know what was.


	26. Partial Truths

James

Later that night, Annabelle, Mark and Glenn decided that a group meeting was necessary to talk about what we were going to do about the little situation I was in. I didn't really want to have this meeting but apparently it was necessary. And once we got started, I realized that they weren't exactly wrong. That didn't make me want to have it anymore, but at least it didn't make it completely pointless.

"We're fucked," Annabelle proclaimed. She was playing with Cooper, who was completely oblivious to what we were talking about.

"We're not fucked," I said with a shake of my head. I ruffled Cooper's hair, which made him smile and crawl up on to my lap. "If Scotty did what he was supposed to do then we're cool. And if he didn't, only Mark is fucked. He was the one that did it after all."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Thank you James. That just makes me feel so loved."

"Well it was your fault," I pointed out defensively.

"Yeah well, even if the body doesn't get connected to Mark, we've got a big issue to deal with," Glenn pointed out. "Kelsey is dead. The cops know Matt's gone, even if they don't know what really happened to him. Jeff's only fourteen and it's only a matter of time before they call Child Protective Services and have him taken away. They're not going to let him just stay here under your supervision."

"Why not?" I asked. "I take good care of him!"

"Yeah but you're not a responsible adult."

I pouted. Being a responsible adult was way overrated.

"So what the hell are we going to do?" Annabelle asked. "There's got to be someone we know that can take custody of Jeff."

"Maybe Shannon or Evan's parents will do it," Mark said with a shrug.

"And if they don't?" I asked. I did not like facing the possibility of having Jeff slip away from me. It angered me greatly. "Then what are we going to do?"

"Then Glenn will talk Bearer into taking custody of him," Mark said with a shrug.

Glenn looked at Mark in surprise. "I will?"

"Yes you will. He won't do it if I ask him to. He hates me."

"And me," James added. "And Annabelle."

Glenn sighed. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

Now I thought that settled the matter. But apparently Annabelle didn't. "But who says they'll even let Bearer have him?" she asked. She seemed determined to point out all the potential problems with any plan we made up. "He's not a relative or an official foster parent."

"Yeah but the bastard has a way of talking people into shit," I pointed out. "He talked Mark and Glenn's mom into sleeping with him, now didn't he?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "Now if that doesn't make him a miracle worker, I don't know what does."

Annabelle sighed. "Alright," she said in defeat. I hope you guys are right."

"Don't worry, we are," I assured her. I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "This is going to work out. I won't have it any other way."

She shook her head. "Things can't always go your way James. Life doesn't give a damn about what you want."

"It will if I force it to," I replied.

"Da?" Cooper said suddenly.

I looked at him. "What?"

He gave me a big kiss on the cheek. I smiled and hugged him tightly. "I love you too kiddo." I got up and began carrying him out of the room. "Come on, let's go check on Jeff."

Glenn said something as I left, but I ignored him. I just continued my search for Jeff and wound up finding him washing his face off in the bathroom. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He sighed and shut off the water and dried his face off with a towel before answering me. "Can you please not ask me that right now?"

I nodded. "Yeah sure."

"Thank you." He rubbed his eyes and walked past me so he could leave the room. I quickly followed him, not letting him out of my sight for a second. We ended up in my room, where he curled up into a little ball on my bed. He looked so sad and pathetic just laying there that I put Cooper down on the floor to play so I could lay down with him. "It's going to be alright," I told him.

He shook his head. "That's easy for you to say. You're not in my situation." He snuggled up to me, crying softly now. "I'm so fucking scared James. Aunt Kelsey is dead, I could be taken away from you against my will and I can't stop thinking that Matt is going to get me."

I sighed. I hated seeing him like this. "I'm not letting you go anywhere," I said firmly. "Nobody is taking you away from me. As for Matt, he is gone. He's not coming back."

Jeff looked up at me, suddenly angry. "How do you know?" he asked. "Huh? You don't know him the way I do! He's never going to leave me alone for good! He told me himself that he's never going to stop until the day he dies!"

"Yeah well he's dead so you don't have to worry about him anymore!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Jeff's jaw dropped as soon as the words left my mouth. I groaned inwardly, knowing there was no way to take them back. "He's what?" he asked in disbelief.

I sighed, quickly thinking up of a lie to cover my own ass. "He's dead," I repeated. "I um…I found him lurking outside the house a week ago when you were sleeping. I tried to make him go peacefully but he refused….we ended up getting into a struggle and he ended up dead."

"How?" Jeff asked, his voice going up an octave higher than it normally was.

"I hit him in the back of the head with a rock," I replied, trying to sound remorseful. It wasn't really working out too well, but Jeff was getting too hysterical to truly notice. "I didn't meant to kill him…I just freaked out when he told me what he was going to do to you."

Jeff stared at me for the longest time, his jaw hanging opened wordlessly. Finally he closed his mouth and buried his face into my chest. There was a little bit more silence before he began to cry. At first it was all soft and quiet but then it got progressively louder and harder; eventually he was full on sobbing on me. I was startled as hell because I didn't know what the fuck there was to cry about. I decided not to question him though and instead chose to just hold him until he fell asleep in my arms.


	27. All Nightmare Long

Jeff

I stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. My mind wouldn't allow it. Thoughts about Matt were plaguing my mind. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that he was dead. I just couldn't. Matt had always been around. For better or worse, he had been around for…well forever.

I let out a shaky sigh before rolling over and staring at the wall. James was grunting sleepily and I could feel him wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to him. But even his touch didn't bring me any comfort. I just felt so empty and confused and I couldn't make those feelings go away. I was feeling a sense of loss for Matt, which was something I really didn't understand. After everything Matt had put me through, I really did not understand why I was mourning him. I should have been ecstatic that he was gone. But instead of feeling happy, I just felt grief that he was gone and guilt that part of me did feel relieved by that.

"_Matty! Matty!" I yelled, clutching my stuffed teddy bear to my chest. My body was drenched in cold sweat and my mind was still racing from the nightmare I had just had. "MATT!"_

_I could hear someone running in the hallway and just seconds later Matt came into the room. "What's wrong Jeff?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his hand._

"_I had a bad dream," I whimpered._

_His expression softened and he came over to the bed so he could give me a hug. "What was the nightmare about?" he asked me._

"_There was a monster under my bed that came up and eated me," I answered. At five years old, I didn't care that "eated" wasn't a real word. I was scared shitless and I needed comfort._

"_You want to sleep in here with you tonight?" Matt asked. "The monsters can't get you when I'm in here to protect you."_

"_Okay," I agreed quickly. I knew Matt was good at fighting monsters so I was instantly put at ease. "Thank you Matty."_

"_No problem Jeffro."_

I sniffled and wiped away the tears that were starting to leak from my eyes. I had no idea back then that Matt would turn into a monster worse than any of the ones I used to think was under my bed. I sighed again and got up, stumbling into the bathroom so I could rinse my face off. A few quiet sobs escaped me but I quickly cut off the rest and dried my face with a towel. I was tired of crying. I couldn't do it anymore or I was going to go insane.

"_Matty?" I said, hesitantly entering the room. It was several hours after Daddy's funeral and I hadn't really spoken to him since the car accident. I had tried to talk to him at the hospital, but my attempts had fallen on deaf ears. "Can we talk?"_

"_Go away Jeff," he said, not looking my way._

_His tone threw me for a loop but I didn't do what he said. Instead I just started coming closer to him. "Why won't you talk to me Matty?"_

_Matt didn't move or say anything to me for the longest time. At first I thought he didn't hear me or something, but when I got within reach of him, he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me up against the wall. U let out a loud squeak, totally shocked by my brother's actions. "Matty!" I gasped, barely getting the words out because I was being choked so hard._

"_You fucking little idiot!" Matt hissed hatefully. "It's YOUR fault Daddy's dead. If you hadn't made him turn the car around that asshole wouldn't have hit us and he would still be alive!"_

_I stared at him with wide eyes, completely stunned by that statement. "Ma--" I cried out as his fist hit my face, shaking me to my very core._

"Stop it," I muttered, shaking my head and forcing myself out of the memory. I slapped myself across the face a couple of times before going back to the bedroom. James was still sleeping and I crawled back into bed and hugged him tightly, hoping that he would protect me from more memories.

…

_I stared up at the overcast sky, ignoring the fact that the grass below me was making me itch like crazy. I could smell the storm coming but I made no attempt to get up and try to find shelter. I didn't mind the rain. It actually relaxed me (when it wasn't followed by like a tornado or hurricane of course) and at this point, if I drowned in the storm, I really wouldn't care about that one way or another._

"_Jeff?" Someone was yelling my name in the distance, but their voice was so muffled that I couldn't tell who it was. "Jeff? Where are you?"_

_I sat up and looked around. I couldn't see anyone around me. "Hello?" I called back. I didn't get any type of response. Feeling creeped out, I got up and started walking around. "Hello?" I called out again. "Is anyone out there? Ja--"_

_Something suddenly hit me from behind, causing me to hit the ground chest first. I grunted in surprise as all the air was driven out of my body, and when I tried to get back up to my feet, two ice cold hands pushed me back down._

"_Where do you think you're going Jeffy?" Matt hissed in a cold voice._

_My eyes just about popped out of my head when I heard Matt's voice. "No!" I screamed, fighting harder than ever to get back up. "You're dead! You're dead!"_

_Matt chuckled as he continued to easily hold me down. "Maybe on the outside I am," he admitted. "But in your mind, I'm going to live forever and ever and ever…_

"JEFF! WAKE UP DAMN IT!"

I screamed as I opened my eyes, almost jumping right off the bed. If James hadn't been holding on to me, I really would have done that.

"Jeff calm down!" James ordered, looking really freaked out.

"Ma-Ma-Matt!" I stammered out, looking around wildly for him. "He's gonna…he's gonna hurt me…"

"No he's not," James said firmly, tightening his grip on me. "He's not here. He's gone baby, he's gone."

I gasped for breath, trying to get my heart rate to go back to normal. When I was finally somewhat reasonably calm, I buried my face into James's chest and refused to take it back out. Even in death, Matt could still hurt me.

I was so fucked.


	28. Moving On

James

"Maybe we shouldn't go," Annabelle said as I continued to feed Cooper. She was trying to get all of his stuff gathered up so they could drop him off at Tammy's while they went to the Rockfest thingy. The only thing was that she was trying to say they shouldn't go for Jeff's sake. She didn't think he was ready to be out in public, especially since his aunt's death was the biggest story in the city.

"He's the one who _said_ we should go," I pointed out, making a face as Cooper tried to spit out what he was being fed. "Coopy please, keep your food in your mouth."

Cooper just cooed and banged his tiny fists against his high chair.

I shook my head at him. "You're silly." I looked back at Annabelle and sighed. "What do you want me to do Belle? Staying here and letting him sink deeper into his depression is not a good plan. At least getting him out of the house will maybe get him to stop thinking about shit."

She sighed and bit down on her lower lip a little bit. "Can you just check with him again? I don't want him to regret going as soon as we get there."

"I will if you'll finish feeding Cooper."

"Okay." She took the food from me and shooed me away. "Go check on your lover boy."

"Yes ma'am." I gave her a quick kiss on the lips before going upstairs. "Jeff?" I called out, heading towards my room because that was where he had been when I had gone downstairs. "Jeff can we talk?" I was just about to open the bedroom door when he stepped out of the bathroom, looking slightly less than hell than he did before. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said back. He smoothed down his hair and shook his head. "I still look like hell, I know."

"No you don't," I told him, even though it wasn't the whole truth. He had large bags under his eyes and his face was kind of pale. But despite that he still looked great to me. "You look fine." I pulled him into my arms and hugged him tight.

"You're a terrible liar," he informed me, returning the hug.

_Oh honey, I'm much better than you think_. "You know, if you really don't fee up to going--"

"James please, don't start talking me out of this," Jeff pleaded softly. He had his face buried against my shoulder. "I can't stay here and keep thinking about things anymore. I just want to forget for awhile."

"Okay," I said. I kissed the top of his head, smelling the purple hair dye he had just put in it. "I'll try to make sure you'll forget." I took him downstairs, where Annabelle was just finished getting ready to go. We went out to the van we were car pooling in and dropped Cooper off at Tammy's before picking up the others. The van was meant to seat seven, but since there was nine of us Annabelle sitting on Dave's lap and Evan ended up on top of Glenn.

"Why are you the one driving?" Mark asked me, not happy being put in the backseat next to Shannon.

"Because it's my vehicle," I replied, nearly rear ending a guy who stopped suddenly in front of me.

"You're going to kill us all before we even get there!"

"I am not!" Right on cue though, I almost hit a trash can. Cursing under my breath, I began focusing all my energy on being more careful the rest of the way there. Lucky for me, I managed to actually do that. "Ha! Take that bitches!" I said triumphantly as we got out of the car. Since the whole thing was outdoors, we were all being forced to park on the side of the hill. I was getting a mental picture of one of the cars at the top of the hill falling and causing a huge domino effect. _As long as my car doesn't get damaged, I think that should totally happen. That would be fucking hilarious._

"Damn it to hell," Mark muttered under his breath as we climbed up the hill so we could get in line and wait for the gates to open. The line to get into the venue was already a mile long, so we were going to be standing there for quite awhile.

"What's the matter Calaway?" Dave asked, holding Annabelle's hand and letting her lean too close to him for my comfort. "Are you that out of shape that you can't even climb a hill without getting winded?"

Mark gave him a murderous glare. "You just shut your mouth. I'm in great shape. I just…don't do hills."

I raised my eyebrows at that comment before looking over at Glenn. The Crispy Critter just shook his head, signaling to me that continuing down that conversation path would lead to things we couldn't talk about in mixed company.

"I'm with Mark on this one," Shannon said, looking really fucking stupid to me with his Mohawk sticking straight up. Shane seemed to really dig it though; he kept looking at the kid like he wanted to fuck him right then and there. _To each his own I guess._

"I like going down hills better," Evan said, still pink from being placed on Glenn's lap just a little bit. "I used to roll down them all the time. It's fun."

I grunted, leading everyone to the back of the line. I thought going down hills was overrated, but that was mostly because I once twisted my ankle really badly running down one.

Annabelle put on her sunglasses before looking around at everything. "I'm glad it's not going to be super hot like last time."

"Me too," I agreed. Last time it had been scorching hot and Annabelle had almost passed out due to heat exhaustion.

"Hey," Mark said, hitting my chest with the back of his hand. "Look."

I looked to where he was pointing to and saw Cody standing a ways back, looking like a little lost puppy. Ever since Randy and Ted had "disappeared", he had been off on his own, which was something he was clearly not used to. I was willing to bet a good amount of money he had never NOT been someone's bitch before.

"Maybe we should invite him to join us," Annabelle suggested.

I snorted. "Oh yes, because he looks so willing to accept that invitation." I had scared the living shit out of him when I had been hunting for Randy. It would be shocking if he came within a ten foot range of me if he could help it.

"Phil!" Jeff yelled, waving his hands around. "Phil come here!"

I frowned, now looking to where Jeff was looking. Coming up the hill now was Mark's former bitches Phil Brooks and John Morrison, along with Mike Mizian and Kofi Kingston. John was so absorbed with Mike that he barely gave them a glance, and while Phil did cast a nervous eye to an uncaring Mark, his gaze stayed mostly on Jeff. I blinked in confusion, wondering what was up with the puppy dog eyes that Princess Straightedge was making at my Jeff.

"Hey Jeff," Phil said, standing too close to Jeff for my liking. "I've missed you in art these past couple of days."

Jeff smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I just…I needed some personal days."

Phil nodded. "I don't blame you. I would need some personal days to if I was you. But listen, while you were gone, Lawler assigned a big project due in a couple of weeks and we have to have partners during it. And I hope you won't be mad about it, but I told him that me and you would be partners."

"You did? Thanks Phil."

I looked back and forth between the two of them, feeling completely out of the loop. _What the hell…okay, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on Brooks now. _"Come on," I said, putting my arm around Jeff possessively. "It's time to go in."

"Okay," Jeff said, snuggling up to me but still casting looks at Phil.

I barely suppressed the growl that was in my throat. The way Jeff was looking at Phil…I didn't know if Jeff realized he was doing it or not, it was happening right before my eyes. And if it didn't stop soon…well, I had a feeling things were not going to end all that well.


	29. Tensions and Revelations

Jeff

Even after the line started moving, we didn't reach the gates for another hour. Most of us kept our cool about the very slow move, but James and Mark seemed to get agitated as the minutes ticked by. Now Mark's main issue was boredom and it was really easy for us to help him as time went on. We just had him bug the cheerleaders who were up a little ways ahead of us. Every time he approached them they started screaming and freaking out and it was very entertaining. It definitely kept Mark amused.

James however, was a different story. He didn't seem to be bored really. He just…I didn't know for sure. He just kept looking over at Phil (who was trying to pretend he wasn't noticing it) and slowly but surely pulling me away from him. That was very confusing to me because I didn't really understand why he was doing it. All Phil and I was doing was talking. There wasn't anything wrong with talking was there?

Resisting the urge to actually ask that question out loud, I allowed myself to be patted down without a fight once we reached the concert gates. James however, chose to sneer and be difficult while he was getting searched. "You keep your wrinkly hands away from my crotch, you hear me old man?" he snapped.

"James…" Annabelle said in a warning voice.

He ignored her and continued being difficult. "So why exactly aren't we allowed to have blankets with us? Are you afraid that we're going to run around trying to kill each other with them?"

"And what's with the no lids on our bottles of water and pop thing?" Mark asked, joining in on the fun. "Are you trying to make us spill the shit? Are you encouraging the use of mickies? Or are you afraid we're going to try to jam the lids down each other's throats?"

"Just move along," the old man grunted, giving us all a dirty glare.

"Fine Mr. Cranky Pants," James said as we walked away. "Be that way then. Bitch."

I sighed and shook my head at him. "Why did you have to do that?"

"Do what?" he asked innocently. "I didn't do anything."

I looked at Annabelle, who just shook her head. I sighed again and just dropped the subject, figuring that it wasn't worth fighting about. Instead I looked back at the others, seeing that we were already starting to split up. John and Mike were off to go get some t-shirts, Shannon, Shane and Mark wanted to get snacks and Annabelle, Evan and Glenn were looking at spots up on the hill where they could go and sit down. Pouting my lips, I looked at James, Phil and Kofi. "You guys want to go stand by the stage?" he asked hopefully. I had never actually been to a concert before, but I figured that it was probably more fun down by the stage.

"Hell yeah," Phil agreed while Kofi nodded.

I looked at James, who also nodded. With that decided, we walked towards the stage, me trying to be unaware of the looks Phil was now giving James. I felt like that not only was I missing out on something important, but it was something of the bad variety. I hated the feeling with a passion because I loved James and Phil was my friend. Call me stupid, but I wanted the two of them to get along.

Atreyu played first, and during their second song Mark, Shane and Shannon ended up joining us. Tensions were forgotten during the rest of the set, and I ended up getting a Three Days Grace t-shirt right before Hurt took the stage. I happily rested my head back on James's chest, noticing that Mark was bothering Phil for no good reason that I could think of.

"Would you quit it?" Phil finally snapped after Hurt played their last song. He glared at Mark angrily. "I don't want you touching me."

Mark smirked and continued toying with Phil's hair. "Why not? You used to love it when I touched you."

"Yeah," James agreed. He had been nuzzling my neck but now his whole attention was on Phil. "You used to scream his name so pretty…"

Phil's whole face turned red and before anyone could stop him, he smacked Mark and stormed off. Kofi glared at Mark and James angrily before running after Phil, leaving Mark pissed, James amused, Shane and Shannon confused and me upset. "What the hell was that about?" I asked angrily, pulling myself out of James's grip and glaring at him and Mark.

James saw how mad I was and just shrugged sheepishly. "Long story," was all he said.

I glared at Mark, who's expression stayed cold and pissed. Huffing loudly, I stormed off so I could chase after Phil. I needed to make sure he was okay.

…

James

"Phil! Phil wait up!"

I felt my eye twitch violently as I watched Jeff chase off after Phil. It was definitely bothering me more than I would like. "You see what you did Mark?" I asked, smacking him on the chest. "You made him leave!"

"Me?" Mark said incredulously. "What did I do?"

"You upset Phil," Shannon replied, either really brave or really dumb for opening his big mouth. "And since Phil is Jeff's friend, you've upset him too." He looked at me and shook his head. "And it wasn't like you helped either. "You used to scream his name so pretty…" -that shit was demented dude."

"Oh piss off," I muttered, pushing past Shane and Shannon so I could go after Jeff. Maybe I really should have kept my mouth shut, but Brooks had always rubbed me the wrong way, even before I caught him making eyes at Jeff. He had the tendency to act like a self entitled prick just because he was Straight Edge, which always bothered me. Just because I liked to drink and smoke didn't make that little fucker better than me. It just meant that I had more fun than he did. That's all.

"Jeff!" I yelled, frustrated that I had already lost him in the sea of people that surrounded me. I growled angrily and continued my search. "Jeff! God damn it…"

…

Jeff

"Phil wait!" I yelled for the sixth time, finally catching up with Phil and Kofi by a tree that was less populated than anywhere else in this place. "Phil!"

Kofi looked at me and shook his head. "Jeff I wouldn't-"

"It's okay Kofi," Phil interrupted, shaking his head and refusing to look at me. "He's fine. Can you just let us talk by ourselves for a second?"

Kofi nodded. "Yeah sure." He cast another look at me before walking just enough away so that we were still in his sight but out of hearing range.

"Can you look at me Phil?" I asked, getting closer to him and putting my hand on his shoulder.

Phil's gaze stayed firmly on the ground as he shook his head.

"Please?"

Phil groaned and reluctantly looked up at me. "What happened back there?" I asked. "Why did you get so upset with Mark?"

"Because he doesn't have the right to touch me," Phil replied, casting a nervous glance out into the crowd. "After the way he used me and John…no, no way. Never again."

I blinked in surprise. "You guys had a relationship with him?"

Phil chuckled bitterly. "It wasn't a relationship Jeff. The only person Mark wants to have a relationship with is James. He used me and John for sex. He manipulated the both of us and got us to do whatever it was he wanted-and that included sleeping with your little boyfriend."

"What?" I said in disbelief. "You can't…James wouldn't-"

"Oh but he would," Phil interrupted. "Believe me, he would." He finally looked up at me and saw the look of disbelief that was still planted on my face. "Here, let me tell you a little story…"


	30. Glimpse into the Past

Phil

_I shivered as I watched Mark circle me and John like a tiger stalking his prey. I had no idea why I kept letting myself and John get brought back here. When this whole thing with Mark started, the two of us were pretty enamored with him. On the first day of school he had saved us from getting beat up by Regal, Jackson and Kozlov, so naturally we were thinking that he liked us or something. We were all stupid and naïve like that. The fact that he wanted to make us into his little bitches didn't even cross our minds until after the whole mess started. We thought he actually liked us. We thought he wanted something more from us._

_Yeah, we were idiots like that._

"_Where did your collar go Brooks?" Mark asked me, wrapping his arms around John from behind and holding him tightly. John immediately started grinding up against him, enjoying himself like he always did. He never let Mark know that he didn't always appreciate being treated like a whore. In fact, sometimes I wondered if him agreeing with me about the way things needed to change was his way of just shutting me up when I got upset. He never seemed to care about Mark's rough treatment the same way I did._

"_I told you I didn't want to wear that thing," I replied, my eyes going down to the bedazzled purple collar John was wearing. The collar didn't originally have all glitter shit on it, but John was John and he wouldn't be caught dead wearing something that didn't accessorize._

_Mark chuckled, amused by my defiance. "I know what you said Brooks. But do you remember what I said?"_

_I remembered exactly what he said, but I kept my mouth shut. What I wanted didn't matter at all to him. He had made that perfectly clear last time and he was going to do it again tonight._

_He let go of John so he could grab me by the hair and yank my head back violently. Tears immediately started to well up in my eyes but I blinked them away as fast as I could. It literally felt like he was going to tear my hair right out of my scalp. "Let me go!" I snapped, reaching up and trying to pry his fingers off of me._

"_Do you really need to be difficult right now?" he asked with a shake of his head, yanking my hair back yet again. This time I let out a really loud yelp, which made a disturbingly lustful look come into his eyes. "You have no idea how hard I can make things for you."_

"_Mark come on, ease up-" John was trying to come to my defense but he got shut down with a rather nasty glare. _

"_I can make you hurt in ways you never thought possible," Mark whispered, sending a nasty shiver up my spine. "You want that Brooks? Because you can just tell me. I might forgive your defiance if you do."_

_I tried to shake my head but I couldn't really move it. He wasn't letting me. "Please…"_

"_Ooh, looks like I'm here just in time." James came into the room, completely and totally fucking drunk. I could literally smell the booze coming off of him in waves and it made me flinch back. It reminded me of my dad when he used to drink, which was something that I was always trying to forget. While not a violent drunk, it was hard always watching him being so fucked up._

"_Where the fuck have you been?" Mark asked in irritation._

"_Out," James replied. "What's it to you Marky Mark?"_

_Mark rolled his eyes. "Just tie the fruity bitch up and then help me with this one."_

"_What's in it for me?"_

"_You fuck the fruity bitch while I get this one."_

_James pouted his lips. "Why don't I get this one?"_

"_Because I have to teach him a lesson," Mark replied. "Unless…" He went quiet, which meant some sort of idea was forming in his diabolical mind. "You know Philly, I think I could forgive you for disobeying me. You want to know how I can do that?" He loosened his grip on my hair just enough so I could nod. Despite my displeasure at the way I was being treated, I did still want to appease him. My stupid school boy crush on him was making me be an idiot for him._

"_Good boy," Mark said, loosening his grip and petting me like I was a dog or something. "All you have to do is let James have his way with you. He looks like he could use some fun."_

_I looked at James, gulping just a little bit. Sure he was great looking and all that, but there was something very off about him and it wasn't just because he was drunk. I didn't get much of a chance to dwell on that though. The next thing I knew, James was tackling me down to the bed and holding a knife to my throat. "I can do anything I want to him Marky?" he slurred out, pressing down on the hard of the knife to draw some blood. _

_My eyes widened and I began kicking my feet wildly, freaking out immediately. John tried to step in and get him off of me but Mark calmly held him back. "Easy there Lawson. Don't damage him too bad. We don't want anyone seeing the cuts and trying to get us in trouble for a little bit of fun."_

_James snorted and moved the blade of the knife down to my chest. "Can I damage him down here then? I wants him to bleed Marky. I wants him to bleed badly._

I stopped as I noticed Jeff shaking his head. "You don't believe me?" I should have known that he wouldn't. It didn't take a genius to see that Lawson had him wrapped around his finger. The entire school knew about the two of them. Most people thought Lawson was manipulating Jeff and using him although there were some that kept saying Jeff had tamed the beast. I severely doubted the latter however. My guess was that James was keeping his fucked up nature hidden because that was the only reasonable explanation I could think of.

Jeff didn't really acknowledge my question. He just looked confused as hell. "Why…no he couldn't have-"

"He was drunk Jeff," I reminded him. "Like really really fucking drunk. People are capable of all kinds of shit when they're like that."

Jeff swallowed heavily, still not liking what I was telling him. But hey, he was the one who asked in the first place. Besides, he probably should have an idea about the other sides of the man he was running around with. It would be really bad if James got insanely drunk and tried to do anything bad to him. Jeff seemed to really care about him for some reason and it would probably fuck him up in the head to have it happen to him.

"_I feel like an artist," James said happily as he cut all kinds of zig zags into my stomach and chest. He wasn't cutting me deep enough to leave permanent scars, but he was cutting enough to make me all bloody. I was still really freaked out though, because it seemed like he could easily loose control at any minute and really hurt me._

_Mark chuckled, keeping his eyes on me and James while he played with John. "Isn't he pretty when he's scared?" he asked, growling slightly when James began licking up the blood he drew._

_I shivered as he nodded, really hoping that neither of them decided that I needed to look even more scared. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there. Like right now. But I knew that if I said that, I was just going to make things worse for myself. And worse was the last thing I wanted. _

"Jeff!"

I stopped talking as we heard James yelling at the top of his lungs. Jeff cast a look behind him, the expression on his face very unreadable. I wanted to know what he was thinking but there wasn't time to get into that. James was getting closer and closer and I didn't want to have this discussion with him breathing down our throats. The last thing I wanted was to have a confrontation with the psychopath. I had only spent a short amount of time with him today but I was already quite certain that I was on his shit list. "I'm going to go, okay?" I watched him as he nodded. "We'll talk later?"

Jeff nodded. If he didn't really believe me at least he wasn't screaming at me and calling me a liar.

"Kay." I wanted to say more but I didn't have enough time to think of anything. All I had time to do was grab Kofi and get moving.

"You okay?" Kofi asked.

I just shrugged. That was something that was going to have to be determined later when my head was clearer. Right now I just wanted to focus on forgetting that night ever happened again. It would be easier said than done but I had to at least try. The way that night ended was not something I wanted to think about ever again.


	31. Dark Side of the Moon

James

"I'm going to kill Brooks," I muttered under my breath. We were home from the concert and now Jeff wasn't talking to me. I had tried to get him to tell me what Phil had told him but I hadn't gotten anything out of him. All he would tell me was that he needed some space and time to think about things. I didn't like hearing that at all. That was usually a sign of badness.

"Oh yes, please go solve your problem with more homicidal activity," Glenn said sarcastically. "Because that's the mature thing to do."

I glared at him angrily. "This isn't any of your business you know. You can kindly shut the fuck up and go away."

Annabelle groaned as she came back from tucking Cooper into bed. "Don't be nasty James," she said in exasperation. "It's not attractive."

I didn't give a rat's ass whether it was attractive or not. It wasn't like I was out to make myself appealing to Crispy Critter. I had more important things on my mind.

Glenn (being the idiot that he was) decided not to keep his mouth shut like I had told him to. "You know, whatever he told Jeff was probably true. And justified, considering his encounters with you and Mark-"

"Oh come on!" I said defensively. "I only fucked him once! And I barely even remember what happened that night." I had gotten completely drunk on Captain Morgan so the one time I had fucked him was a complete and total blur. "He should be warning Jeff away from Marky."

"But I'm not even around the kid that much," Mark said with a shake of his head. "You meanwhile, are attached to him by the hip. It's disgusting."

I stuck my tongue out at him before folding my arms over my chest. "You know, this is all your fault Marky."

Mark looked at me like I was absolutely insane. "Me? This is my fault? How is this my fault?"

"Well you were the one who let me fuck Phil."

"I told you to fuck John! You were the one who insisted on having Brooks' ass."

"Yeah well I was drunk! You should know better than to give me what I want when I'm drunk!"

Mark snorted loudly and just rolled his eyes. "Blaming me isn't going to fix anything Lawson. So why don't you just stop and think about what the hell you're going to do to set things right?"

I glared at him but he didn't budge an inch. "Fuck," I muttered. I plopped down on the couch and rubbed the back of my neck. "What the fuck am I supposed to do?"

"How about you be honest?" Annabelle suggested. "You shouldn't lie to Jeff about this, especially since it seems like he's already believing Phil." She sat down next to me and patted my leg. "Just admit to what you did, say it was a stupid and terrible mistake and apologize to Phil if Jeff wants you to."

I looked at her like she had just grown a second head. "Can't I just kill him? It would be so much easier-"

"No!" Now she just looked fed up with me. "Damn it James, you can't solve everything with murder. I know that's not what you want to hear but you have to accept that. And you also have to accept the fact that your actions have consequences. They might not be in your favor but that's the way it is."

I knew that was the truth but that didn't mean I liked it. Killing was my main way of solving problems. When I couldn't do that, it made me feel boxed into a corner. I wasn't really equipped with normal problem solving skills.

"Look on the bright side Lawson," Mark said, his tone clearly indicating that his definition of bright side wasn't going to be like mine. "He had to find out that you're a fucked up psychopath sooner or later. At least someone else brought the subject up for you."

I just rolled my eyes. That wasn't really a bright side to me. I hadn't really wanted Jeff to find out about my psychotic nature. Maybe it was unrealistic to want to keep it a secret since it was so engrained into my personality, but what could showing him my true self do? Scare him away? I didn't want that. I wanted to keep him. He was my Jeff and if I had to hide my craziness from him, I was willing to do it.

"James," Annabelle said as she took my hand and gave it a big squeeze "you can't hide the truth from him forever." Damn her for always knowing what I was thinking. "If you two stay together, eventually he will find out about things you're trying to keep secret. If you're really serious about this relationship, that's something you're going to have to prepare for."

"And on the bright side," _oh God, here he goes again_ "if he rejects you for being a mass murdering psychopath, you'll still always have me."

Glenn blinked and shook his head at Mark. "Explain to me how that's the bright side."

Mark slapped the back of Glenn's head. "You shut up and don't argue with me. If I say I'm the bright side, then I'm the mother fucking bright side."

Glenn scowled and slapped Mark back. "Don't hit me you asshole!"

"Or you'll do what bitch?" Mark asked as he hit Glenn again.

Glenn growled and the next thing I knew, Mark was grabbing Glenn into a headlock and the two of them were getting down on the floor to have a full fledged wrestling match. "Lovely," I said sarcastically. "Really, this is exactly the kind of action I want to see." I looked at Annabelle as she nudged me with her elbow. "What?"

"Go talk to Jeff," she encouraged. "You need to."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

I sighed and got up. "Fine. I might as well give it another shot."

…

Jeff

I ended up telling Shannon and Evan what Phil had told me. They were my best friends and I needed their opinion on this entire subject. "Do you think Phil is telling the truth?" Evan asked me after I was done getting them up to speed.

I frowned at that question. "Why would Phil lie? I mean, he doesn't strike me as the type to lie…"

"Tr-"

"But James is so sweet," I said, almost talking to myself more than anyone else. "He's really really sweet and-"

"He's sweet to you anyway," Shannon interrupted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Shannon shrugged. "It means exactly how it sounds. I mean, I've spent enough time with the two of you to get the impression that he's crazy about you. But I've also gotten the impression that he's also just plain crazy. There's something not right about him and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Shane's told me stories that are common knowledge for the older kids-" He paused when he saw the look on his face. "Look, I'm not saying that he's a bad guy. The fact that he's kept you safe from Matt and has taken care of you makes him a good enough guy in my book. But I think it's time to come to terms with the fact that he's not exactly-" He stopped all of a sudden and I looked back to see that James had come outside.

"You two scram," he told Evan and Shannon. "I need to talk to Jeff alone."

Shannon almost started to say something but Evan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away before he could. I stared at James carefully as he sat down next to me, wanting answers yet also dreading hearing them. I didn't want James to have a dark side to him. Matt had had a dark side and it had nearly killed me. I honestly could not take anything like that ever again.

James tried to wait so I would speak first but I wouldn't make a sound. Finally he sighed and spoke up. "Can you please just tell me what he told you?"

I stared at him for a very long moment before speaking. "You cut him with a knife," I stated.

"I did?"

"That's what he said."

"Oh."

"Oh. That's all you have to say?"

"Well what else can I say? I was drunk off my ass. I barely even remember what I did."

I eyed him carefully before shaking my head. "You really hurt him James. Like not just physically. It screwed him up in the head."

"Oh come on I-okay fine, I'm sorry." He changed direction with his statement when he saw the look I gave him. "I'm sorry alright?"

I pressed my lips together and looked down at my lap. "How do I know…" I stopped mid-question because I was too scared to let my mind go there.

"How do you know what?" James asked, gently prodding me to continue. I tried to keep my mouth shut but he wouldn't stop so I finally gave in and said the thought that was plaguing my mind.

"How I do I know you won't get drunk again and see me and-"

"Hey hey hey," James said, quickly pulling me into his lap and hugging me tightly. "I would never do that to you. You understand me? I would NEVER-"

"But how do I know?" I asked. "Huh? How do I know for sure. Matt was never supposed to hurt me but he did. He hurt me so bad…" I shook my head as James planted about a dozen kisses all over my face before just hugging me again. I clung to him desperately, hating myself for being so confused and needy. "James-"

"I wouldn't ever hurt you," James said hoarsely. His lips were pressed almost directly against my ear. "You hear me?"

I nodded and hung on to him more tightly. I wasn't going to forget anything that Phil had told me; that was something that shouldn't be forgotten. But I still needed James desperately and I didn't want to lose him any time soon. As long as he didn't hurt me, I could try to accept whatever dark side he had.


	32. Authority Bites

Jeff

I stared at Mark's house apprehensively. I didn't know how Mark had done it, but he had talked Bearer into stepping up and taking custody of me so I wouldn't have to go to a foster home. It was good news because I could stay close to James and all my friends, but it was bad news because I had always found Bearer to be really really creepy and I did not see my opinion changing any time soon. "I don't know if I should go in there," I said hesitantly.

"I don't think you should," James said. He had his arm wrapped around me tightly and he was staring at the house too. "Bearer's an asshole."

"Yeah but he has to go in," Annabelle reminded the both of us. "Bearer said if Jeff's going to be legally living with him-"

"He's staying at our house still."

"But Child Services doesn't know that. They think he's going to be living with Bearer so Bearer wants him to come over and establish some rules and crap like that."

James rolled his eyes in annoyance. "He's only making Jeff go through with this because he wants to try to scare him. We both know this." He kissed the top of my head and actually glared at the house. "Don't pay any attention to what he says, alright? He'll say stupid shit because you're dating me."

"Why would he do that?" I asked.

"Because he hates me."

"Why?"

"I'm the anti-Christ apparently," James replied with a shrug. "I don't know how he ever came up with that conclusion but yeah, that's what he thinks of me. He hates Annabelle too though so it's not like I'm alone."

"And he hates Mark for associating with you," Annabelle pointed out. "Plus he hates that Glenn hates around us too-but he doesn't hate Glenn himself."

"No, because Glenn's his deep fried pride and joy," James said. "He could never hate his own flesh and blood. I think he thinks it's a sin or something." He chuckled slightly. "I don't know how he got that idea. I mean I hated everyone in my family but Annabelle for years and I was never struck down by lightning or anything."

"Yeah but your family was evil," I pointed out. "So it wasn't wrong to hate them." I got up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"I like your logic," James said happily. He turned to face me all the way and planted a big kiss on my lips. "It's the best logic ever."

"It is," I said happily. I looked back at the house out of the corner of my eye. "So is Mark and Glenn going to be there?" I was hoping that they were home and they would kindly keep Bearer from taking mine, James's and Annabelle's heads off.

"Probably," James said with a shrug. "If they are I hope they haven't made fatso all cranky. He'll be like fifty times more difficult if they have."

…

Glenn

"GOD DAMN IT MARK WILLIAM! I TOLD YOU TO GET RID OF THAT BLONDE SLUT THREE DAYS AGO!"

I groaned and put my pillow over my head. This was not what I wanted to wake up to. "Can you two please keep it down?" I hollered. "I'm trying to sleep."

I was ignored. I was always ignored. "I'm not done with him yet though!" Mark objected. "Lawson has Jeff so I need someone for me."

"I don't care about Lawson and his little slut!" Bearer shouted. "I want your slut out of my house before someone sees him! How the hell do you plan to explain him away?"

"Copeland is a fucking asshole! Nobody is going to care whether I use him as a sex toy or not!"

I rolled my eyes and sat up, trying to tune out the argument that was going on. I kind of agreed with Bearer on the whole thing, but I wasn't going to concern myself with making him give Adam up. It wasn't my business and quite frankly, I didn't really care about it at all.

"You know what? Fine! You don't want him here, you get rid of him!" Mark shouted. I heard him storm down the stairs and then go out the front door, which made me roll my eyes. He was such a baby when he didn't get his way. Putting on the clothes that I found on my floor (I figured they had to be clean because they had sat there long enough), I left my room and started to go downstairs so I could go to the kitchen and get something to eat. On my way there though, I heard something going on in Mark's room and I had to see what it was. Maybe curiosity had killed the cat but it wouldn't kill me. I was much bigger and scarier than any fucking cat.

I entered the room without knocking and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw that Bearer had gone ahead and slit Adam's throat while he had been still tied up and gagged on Mark's bed. "Whoa whoa whoa!" I exclaimed more out of shock than anything else. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Doing what Mark should have done weeks ago," Bearer replied. He wiped the blade of the knife off with his red handkerchief and motioned to Adam with his head. "You'll have to help dispose that."

"Wait, why me?" I whined. "You killed him and he was Mark's bitch! You two should clean this up!" That statement earned me a sharp glare and I had to sigh and accept defeat. My dear father was not going to be swayed on this any time soon. "This house fucking sucks," I muttered as I went back to my room so I could sulk. Adam couldn't be disposed of now because Jeff was going to be here to talk to Bearer, so it would have to wait until he left again. Then I would make Mark get his ass back here and help me clean up the mess. I loved my brother to death but I wasn't doing this alone. I had already cleaned up enough of his mess by myself to last me a lifetime.

…

James

"What's up your butt Marky?" I asked as Mark stormed out of the house just as we were about to come in. The look on his face pointed to him being seriously annoyed by something and when he got annoyed by something we went out and killed people together, so it was of great interest to me.

"Bearer's just being a dick," Mark replied. He was sullen, which meant that Bearer had taken something away from him. I was about to ask for more details when I saw the look Mark gave me. I instantly shut my mouth and dropped the subject. The look in his eyes told me that it wasn't something we could talk about in front of Jeff.

Jeff let out a shaky sigh and clung to my arm. "He's going to hate me."

"Yeah well, it's not like you're going to be really living with him," I pointed out. "We're just going to make people believe you are." I opened the door and let Annabelle and Jeff go inside. "You coming back in Mark?"

"No," he replied. "That would defeat the purpose of me storming out here, now wouldn't it?"

"Probably. We're going out later?"

"Yeah. Get this shit over with and text me."

"Will do." I winked at him before entering the house just in time to see Bearer coming down the stairs. "Hey there Paulie," I said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

Bearer glared at me before casting his beady little eyes towards Jeff and Annabelle. "Living room," he said shortly. "Now."

Jeff and Annabelle both looked at me and I rolled my eyes and started leading the way. "You're way too uptight today Paulie," I said conversationally. "If you weren't disgusting to look at I would say that you would need to get laid."

"James," Annabelle said lowly. She was trying to warn me to stop but it became way too late the moment we entered the house.

"You just shut your damn mouth James Lawson," Bearer snapped. "You're lucky I'm even helping your floozy. I should just let him get taken away-"

I saw Jeff's eyes widen and felt him stiffen next to me. That put me right on the defense. "Don't you threaten him," I growled angrily. "You hear me? You have a problem with me, you take it up with me and leave Jeff alone. It's not like he's going to be around to bother you or anything."

Bearer gave me a rather nasty look before turning his full attention to Jeff. Jeff shrank back instantly and that made Bearer smirk smugly. Because most people avoided him because he was creepy, they didn't know that he relished in being a bully. He used to bully Glenn around a whole lot (and he actually still does it from time to time) and he tried to bully Annabelle around if she was around him and I wasn't. "You listen to me and you listen to me good Jeffery Nero," he said, which was not a good start to the conversation. "Despite your questionable associations-" he made sure to give me a rather nasty look right then and there "-I have agreed to become your legal guardian. And if I'm going to do this, I want to make some things perfectly clear. When you are in my house-and you will be here more often than you think-you will abide by my rules. You will not fornicate with this heathen here-"

"Like we want to fornicate in your house," I muttered as Jeff turned a bright shade of red.

"-you will not even touch him in a manor that's remotely impure-which does include kissing-"

"Dude, where are you from? The 1700s?"

"James!" Annabelle said in exasperation. "Just let him talk."

"Don't scold him for me harlot," Bearer said nastily. "I can handle him on my own."

"You fucking call her that again, I'm going to kick you teeth so far down your throat they'll shoot out your ass," I growled. I would have grabbed him right then and there but both Jeff and Annabelle were holding me back. "You hear me?"

Bearer chuckled and turned his full attention back to Jeff. "I also expect you to keep out of trouble. I know that's going to be nearly impossible because of Lawson but you better find a way to do it. If I get wind of you being a little hooligan then I will give you up and let the state take you. You hear me?"

Jeff nodded fearfully.

"Excuse me? I didn't hear you."

"Y-yes sir," he squeaked out.

I shook my head and glared at Bearer hatefully. "Was it really necessary to bring him all the way here just to fucking intimidate him?" I asked.

"I do what needs to be done," Bearer replied. "Now get out."

I rolled my eyes as he turned on his heels and waddled out of the room. "Asshole," I muttered. I shook my head and kissed Jeff on the cheek. "Don't worry about him. He's an idiot dog that's more bark than bite. I won't let him fuck you over."

"Promise?" Jeff said nervously.

"Yeah. I promise."


	33. One Month Later

_One month later…_

Phil

I was taken by complete surprise when I got to art class and saw that Jeff was actually there for once. For the past month he had been neglecting all of his classes in favor of making out with James in the utility closets-and no, I'm not a total stalker for knowing that. The two of them are the talk of the entire school and neither of them seemed to care. It drove me absolutely nuts because I seemed to be the only one who was honestly concerned with Jeff's well being. I didn't trust James for one single second. John told me over and over again that I was overreacting but I didn't think so. In my gut I believed that James was going to eventually hurt Jeff, even if he wasn't actually planning on doing it. It wasn't just my bad experience with him that made me think that, although I couldn't lie and say it wasn't a contributing factor.

"Hi Phil!" Jeff chirped cheerfully as I sat down across from him. His hair was dyed green today and he had it hanging loose in order to hide the hickeys that were all over his neck.

"Hi," I said as I put my bag on the chair next to me. Nobody else in the class was exactly tripping over themselves to come sit with us. People stayed out of Jeff's way now because they didn't want to risk the wrath of James and I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity. "It's been awhile."

Jeff's face turned a bright shade of pink. "Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I've been meaning to come but um…I've been distracted."

I kept my comments to myself and just nodded while getting what I needed to do whatever painting it was that we were doing today. I thought we were on landscapes or some shit like that, but honestly, I couldn't really even say for sure. All I did know was that I was fucked once we started the pottery unit. My paintings and drawings sucked major balls so I couldn't imagine how bad anything else I tried to make would be.

Jeff sighed as he started painting, glancing at me every now and then when he thought I wasn't watching. I hid my eyes behind my hair so I could look at him more even more than he was looking at me. He had been invading my thoughts for the past month and seeing him now made me all happy and tingly in places that would result in the kicking of my ass if the wrong people found out about it. "Phil?"

"Yeah?" I took my attention away from my horrible painting and looked him in the eyes.

He hesitated for a really long time and I honestly thought he wasn't going to say anything at all. But then he gathered up his courage and said what was on his mind. "I don't want you to think that because I'm still with James that I like what he did to you." At least he was getting straight to the point. "I don't like what he did at all. It was fucked up and wrong and I'm trying to get him to apologize-"

I immediately shook my head at that. "Don't bother. I appreciate the effort but I don't want him saying shit to me that he's not going to mean. A fake apology isn't going to do me a bit of good."

"Okay," Jeff said as he shifted around uncomfortably in his seat. He was definitely afraid to say the wrong thing now. I felt so bad for him that I immediately started trying to put him at ease.

"Look…just forget it, okay?"

Jeff shook his head. "No. I can't just forget it. What he did was wrong-"

"It was before you were even in his picture so just forget it, okay?"

He pouted his lips and gave me an unhappy look. "I don't know if I can…I mean you're my friend. And I know that even though that James treats me really well and takes care of me and shit doesn't mean that I can let him-"

"You don't control him Jeff," I said firmly. "You shouldn't have to apologize and feel bad for shit he's done in the past." _Or shit he'll do in the future._ "Okay? Can I make myself any clearer?"

"No," Jeff admitted with a shake of his head.

"Okay then. Now paint and make me feel bad about my horrible artistic skills."

"They're not that bad…" Jeff's lie was totally shot to shit as he began to laugh right in the middle of it.

I rolled my eyes and attempted to get back to work. "There's a confident booster right there, let me tell ya."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. You're forgiven if you get me a cookie later."

"Okies. I think I can manage that."

…

Mark

I leaned back against the wall while lighting up a joint and watching James pace back and forth. We were hiding out in the locker room and he was being all antsy and shit because Jeff had gone to class for once instead of spending time with him. "Would you relax?" I asked irritably. "You're getting on my nerves."

"How much longer until Jeff's class is over?" James asked. He didn't have a watch on and he was too much of an annoying asshole to get his own phone out and check the time for himself.

"Fuck if I know and fuck if I care," I replied. I took a nice big hit off my joint and tried to share it so he would calm the fuck down. "he's hogged you enough as it is. I want to spend some time with you."

"But-" I cut him off with a hard kiss, plunging my tongue into his mouth so he couldn't even attempt to talk. He kissed me back for a moment, bu then he pulled back and frowned at me. "What are you doing?"

"I think the answer to that is obvious," I replied. I went to kiss him again but he pulled back and shook his head.

"What about Jeff?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "What about him? He isn't here, is he?" I threw down my joint and stomped on it before grabbing James by the head and kissing him again. He started switching back and forth between kissing me back and trying to push me away. I finally broke the kiss myself and gave him an irritated look. "Fucking hell Lawson. You never minded doing this when you were with Annabelle."

"Annabelle knew the score between us though," he pointed out. "Jeff doesn't."

"Jeff doesn't even need to know about this," I told him. "Or if you think he does, I'll gladly tell him that I raped you with my lips. He's so damn naïve he'll believe anything that you tell him." I pushed him up against the wall and kissed him again, getting him to kiss me back a little bit more this time. Maybe I was in the wrong for doing this but I didn't really care. It wasn't that I didn't like Jeff and I certainly wasn't looking to break him and James up. I was just looking to get a little action. That's all.

"Halloween is next week," James said as we stopped to take a breath.

"So?" I started kissing his neck, making sure not to leave any marks behind.

"We need to have a party."

That made me stop and groan. "Lawson-"

"Oh don't be a party pooper," James said with a pout. "You never want to party."

"People annoy me," I reminded him. "You know this, yet you insist on making mingle with them. It's cruel and unusual punishment and it's going to result in me kicking your ass."

James just laughed at me. He didn't take me seriously. He never took me seriously and it was fucking annoying. "Come on, you'll have fun. I promise."

I made a face and shook my head. "I won't."

"You will. You'll have fun even if I have to take you out for a kill mid-party."

That brought a grin to my face. Going out for a kill mid-party was great because I could potentially distract James and make him stay away from the rest of the party entirely. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise." He gave me a peck on the lips just as the bell rang. "I gotta go."

"Fine. Go love Jeff more than you love me. I see how it is."

"Mark-"

"I'm joking!" I said in exasperation. He needed to stop hanging out with Jeff so much. He was getting to be way too sensitive. "Go get your little lover boy and I'll see you later."

"Okay." James took off and I started breaking into people's lockers, looking to see if there was anything good to steal. Maybe a Halloween party wouldn't be such a bad idea. With James all occupied with Jeff and Adam dead, I needed someone new to play with. I was bored as fuck and I couldn't take it anymore.

The sound of the door opening made me turn around At first I thought it was going to be James coming back for some reason but then I saw it was Cody. I saw the deer in the headlights expression on his face and I grinned evilly.

_Jackpot baby._


	34. Halloween Preparations

Jeff

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_…

I glanced over at the television, which Cooper was sitting in front of and watching Nightmare Before Christmas. He had his toys all in front of him but they were being ignored so he could stare at the TV, totally entranced by the dancing cartoon characters on the screen. I really wanted to sit down next to him and watch the movie as well but I was helping Annabelle clean up the place so we could start decorating for the Halloween party James wanted to have. Annabelle didn't seem particularly thrilled by the idea because of her people phobia, but she was going along with it because it was what James wanted to do. I myself was okay with the idea of a party but I didn't want it to be crazy huge and have too much drama unfold. I have seen way too many movies over the years where crazy drama bullshit happens and I don't ever want to have to deal with it myself. That is just asking way too much of me.

"James wants to move out of this place," Annabelle said as she swept the kitchen's hardwood floor. She was glancing over at Cooper ever minute or so, making sure he was okay.

"Really?" I had gotten up on the table so I could dust the ceiling fan. "Why?"

"Too many bad memories," she answered. "He hates this place and I think it would be a good idea to get a new house and start fresh."

When she put it like that, I couldn't deny that that was probably the best thing to do. Being out of the house that Matt had tortured me in had been good for me so getting out of here had to be good for James and Annabelle. I didn't want them to stay in a place that made them unhappy. That just would not do at all. "Where do you guys want to move to?"

Annabelle shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. I want to move to a neighborhood that has a lot of kids so Cooper has kids to play with when he gets older but I'll go anywhere where James wants to."

I nodded along, the fact that she was so devoted to what James wanted not lost on me. Those two were way closer than any siblings that I have ever met. They were even closer than me and Matt used to be when we were younger and I thought we had been unnaturally close back in the day. I figured it was a twin thing although the people at school had their own little nasty theories. Rumors of incest were always coming at James and Annabelle and it was pissing me off. Why couldn't they just leave them alone? They didn't know the shit that they had grown up with and were in no position to judge them at all.

Annabelle continued sweeping, eventually dumping the dust in the dust pan into the trash can. "Maybe you can help me talk him into moving into a neighborhood with a lot of families," she said hesitantly. "He hates people but if we both talk to him he might give in."

I smiled weakly and nodded. "I'll give it a shot."

She smiled gratefully before bowing her head bashfully. "Thanks." She put the broom into the corner of the room and ran a hand through her hair. "Do you and James have anything planned tonight?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Do you think you guys could watch Cooper for me? Dave and I want to go out."

I nodded. "I won't mind and I'm sure James won't either. Maybe I can get him to clean-" I stopped when Annabelle began laughing hysterically. "What?" I said innocently.

Annabelle shook her head as she continued to laugh. "You have a better chance of winning the lottery fifty times while getting struck by lightning than getting James to do housework. Believe me, I've tried it a thousand times but it's never worked."

"Well maybe you were trying to convince him the wrong way," I said jokingly. "I could do a thing that involves me giving him head for everything he cleans."

"Whoa. I don't know exactly what you all are talking about but I can tell you I like it already."

Annabelle giggled loudly while I blushed. James had chosen to walk in right at that moment. "I um…I uh…Annabelle has a date tonight." I figured blurting that out would save me from the comment I had just been heard making.

Now it was Annabelle's turn to blush. James just shook his head and shooed her towards the steps. "Go get ready," he told her. "I've got shit covered down here."

"Are you sure? Because I can stay-"

"_Go_. You deserve a night off. I'll handle things here." James smiled gently and Annabelle eventually nodded and went upstairs, leaving me and James alone together. "Now about that head-"

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. "Oh God, I can't believe that you heard me say that."

James chuckled and grabbed my wrists so he could see my face. "Hey I'm glad I heard you say that. I am actually tempted to clean things just so you have to go through with what you said."

I licked my lips, actually kind of wanting to make good on what I said. It would definitely make for an interesting night. Before I could even think about saying that though, Cooper decided to crawl in from the living room and remind us that he was still there and he was not going to be ignored.

"Dada!"

James grinned and scooped Cooper into his arm, kissing his cheek lovingly. "Hey buddy. How are you doing?"

"Da!" Cooper put his hand up to James's mouth, laughing hysterically when James pretended to bite him.

"So what should we do?" I asked. I smoothed down the mess of bright red hair growing on Cooper's head. "I don't think Cooper wants to be ignored during our cleaning/blowjob marathon."

James thought about it for a moment. "I think we should get our Halloween costumes."

"Okay." That sounded good to me. "Are we going to get Cooper one too?"

"Of course!"

""No masks!" Annabelle yelled from the other room. She had back downstairs to get something out of the downstairs bathroom. "If you get Cooper a costume don't get him one with a mask! I don't want him having trouble breathing in it."

"Aw man," James groaned. "Can't I-"

"No!"

"Belle-"

"James please! I'm begging you, no masks for Cooper!"

I giggled at the look on James's face. "You look so disappointed."

James shook his head. "No masks…I hate it when my creative flow is stiffled. It makes me feel so constricted." He Eskimo kissed Cooper while a determined look spread across his face. It's alright though. We won't let Mommy hold us down. We'll find you the perfect fucking costume or my name is not James Paul Lawson."

…

One hour later we were at the mall, browsing through their selection of costumes. We had found an adorable little pirate costume for Cooper and now we were trying to find what we wanted to wear. "What about this?" James asked as he held up a nurse costume.

I frowned and shook my head. "You would look very scary in that."

James rolled his eyes. "This wouldn't be for me. This would be for you."

Instantly my whole body turned red. "Hell no. I can't wear that."

"Why not? You would look hot."

"But that's like…that would be weird."

James sighed dramatically. "You're so difficult to shop for." He put the nurse costume back and grabbed a gypsy one instead. "How about this?"

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. "What is it with you trying to get me into girl costumes. Do you have a fetish or something that you haven't told me about yet?"

"Maybe," James said slyly. He poked Cooper's nose before putting the gypsy costume and grabbing a vampire cape. "I think I should be Dracula."

"Go for it," I encouraged. "I've always wanted to get fucked by a vampire." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. They made James laugh, offended the old lady that was walking by and made Cooper decide to start expanding his vocabulary.

"Fuh! Fuh!" He was trying to say fuck and it made James laugh even harder.

"No no Cooper," I scolded. "Don't say that. That's naughty."

"Fuh! Jeff fuh!" Cooper clapped his hands together and squealed so loudly that the entire store had to have heard him.

"Well I'm sold on the Dracula costume," James declared. He put the cape in the cart and also got himself a pair of fake fangs and some makeup to go with it. "now we just have to get you a costume and then we're good to eat."

"I don't even know which one to get though," I said. I looked at the selection in front of my head and shook my head helplessly. "I seriously am having issues here."

James smirked and pulled me back so he could wrap his arms around my waist. "Well if I'm going to be Dracula, then why don't you be one of my brides?"

I bit down on my lower lip and gasped as he started nibbling on my neck. "Your bride? You trying to get me into a dress again or something?"

He just chuckled. "Let's just say I'll find you the perfect outfit."

"Am I allowed to know what it is or help you choose at all?"

"Nope. It's a surprise."

"A surprise? Oh boy."

He chuckled again and bit my neck harder. "Hey, you'll love it. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."


	35. The Party Part One

James

Now in our town, parties are something that happen quite often. There's really not that much to do here besides hang out at the mall and go to the movies so parties provide much needed entertainment. And even though I'm really not that big of social events that aren't concerts, I do make exceptions for Halloween. Parties and costumes and alcohol and Halloween always seemed to go hand in hand and this year wasn't going to be any different. Now usually I had them on Halloween night itself but this year Annabelle wanted to go trick or treating with Cooper so we were having it the night before Halloween so we could go with her wishes. I'd take trick or treating with my boy over being a stupid drunk any day of the week.

"Was Tammy okay with watching him tonight?" I asked Annabelle as I adjusted my cape. I had to say that I made a very kick ass Dracula. All those Twilight bitches could kiss my ass and suck my cock. I was a real fucking vampire tonight.

"Yeah," Annabelle replied. She was wearing a Roman Empress costume and I guess Dave was going to be the Emperor or some shit like that. She looked beautiful and he was probably going to look like a roided up freak (I refused to believe that any of his muscles were natural) and I almost gagged at the thought of them wearing at matching costumes. Sure I knew that was kind of hypocritical because Jeff and I were wearing costumes that went together but that was different. Dave was not part of that equation and that made it very much okay.

"Good." I glanced towards my bedroom, where Jeff was getting dressed. "You okay in there?" I asked. He had been in there for an awfully long time.

"Uh…I don't think this was a good idea," he replied. "This is um…I just don't know if I look good in this."

"Well why don't you let me be the judge of that?"

Annabelle frowned at me. "What do you even have him wearing?"

I just smirked. "You'll see…"

My bedroom door slowly opened and Jeff stepped out, wearing the black sleeveless mini-dress and black high heels I had picked out. Maybe this wasn't like a traditional Dracula's bride outfit but I didn't care. I was modernizing the mother fucker.

"Oh boy…" Annabelle's jaw dropped in surprise.

Jeff's whole face was red and he tried to run back into my room to hide. "I look stupid."

"No way." I grabbed his wrist and stopped him from going anywhere. "You look absolutely delicious." I looked at Annabelle for support. "Doesn't he?"

She quickly nodded her head. As if she would ever say anything else. "You like nice Jeff," she assured him. "Really."

Jeff chewed on his lower lip and glanced down at himself. "Are you sure I'm not going to get raped in this?" he asked nervously.

I shook my head and put my arm around him protectively. Maybe I should have put him in a more modest outfit but I hadn't been able to help myself. Jeff had just enough of the girlier features and more slender kind of body shape that the dress actually did look pretty good on him. "I would never let that happen," I promised him. "Never ever." I kissed the side of his head possessively. "You hear me?"

He nodded, quickly turning himself so his face was buried in my chest. He said something right then but I couldn't understand it at all. "What was that?" I asked gently.

He looked back up at me and shook his head slightly. "I'm still convinced you've got some fetish you're not telling me about," he repeated.

I snorted slightly. "Jeff if I had a fetish, I would have told you about it. I'm not one that hides what I want."

"Are you sure? Because Shannon once dated a guy who insisted he didn't have a fetish for months and then he molested Shannon in his sleep with his feet."

I blinked, not even sure what to say to that. I looked to Annabelle to see if she had anything but she didn't. "Well," I finally said "I promise I will never molest you with my feet. Ever."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." Jeff gave me a peck on the lips, not even needing to get on his toes for once because the heels added about six inches to him.

The doorbell rang and I instantly threw Jeff over my shoulder so I could carry him down the stairs. Annabelle followed closely behind me, both of us knowing that she would mostly be hiding upstairs tonight, no matter what Dave or anyone else did or said. She just did not handle people well so parties were like kryptonite to her.

I set Jeff down on his feet before opening the door. Mark, Glenn, Evan, Shannon, Dave and very surprisingly Cody of all people were on the other side of them. "What did you all do, carpool or something?" I asked as they came in.

"Nah," Mark said. "We just have fucking fantastic timing." He was dressed as a biker just because he was lazy like that. He dressed like that normally so this was pretty much nothing for him.

I raised my eyebrows, my eyes lingering at Cody, who was wearing his normal clothes plus a collar and a leash. "Do I want to know?" I said to Mark.

Mark grinned and started to answer but Glenn (dressed as Michael Myers) quickly shook his head. "No. Don't even let him go there Lawson."

I blinked and then looked back and forth between Cody and Mark, deciding to just let it go for now.

"So what are you supposed to be?" Evan asked, rocking back and forth on the soles of his feet. He was wearing a pirate costume and Shannon was rocking the Freddy Kruger look.

"Dracula's bride," Jeff answered.

"You kind of look like a streetwalker," Shannon said bluntly.

"Shanny," Dave said in a warning voice, seeing the somewhat miffed look I gave him.

"Hey at least he looks like a _sexy _streetwalker," Shannon said with an innocent shrug.

Jeff turned red and buried his face against me. "You don't look like a streetwalker," I assured him. "Shannon is just a retard who has no idea what he's talking about."

"Hey," Shannon said with a pout. "My people prefer the term mentally challenged!" He stomped his foot unhappily before eagerly looking around. "Now where's the beer?"

Dave just rolled his eyes and slowly shook his head as he put his arm around Annabelle. "Anyone else get the feeling this is going to be a very interesting night?"

I just grinned and nodded. "Oh yeah. I think it'll be very interesting."

…

Interesting turned out to not be quite strong enough of a word. Absolutely completely fucking insane was more like it. Pretty much every teenager in the city plus a few out of towners showed up and they brought enough alcohol with them for us to be able to open our own liquor store. Jericho and his little band Fozzy had set up shop in the corner and they were playing some songs and I could see Dave and Annabelle lingering at the stairs, him trying to get her to loosen up and her just trying to run away.

"You know, we could probably slip out and go hunting real quick if you wanted to," Mark said as he took a drink of his beer.

I gave him a look and shook my head. "Jeff would notice," I pointed out.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged with a grin. "Well he might not soon." He pointed to the corner where Shannon, Evan and Shane were holding him upside down while he chugged beer straight from the keg.

"Oh Jesus," I muttered. I quickly pushed my way through the crowd, getting over there just as they were setting him down on his feet. "What are you guys doing?" I demanded to know. "He's never even drank before what-"

"Hi James!" Jeff said, falling into my arms and giggling excitedly. The alcohol had already gone directly to his head.

"How much has he had?" I asked Shane because he looked to be the most sober out of the trio of idiots I was about to kill. I fucking left Jeff with them for ten minutes while I helped Jericho get his stupid sound system set up and this is what I get. Unfucking believable.

"Just a couple Jell-O shots and some of this keg," Shane replied innocently. "It wasn't that much, honest!"

"Yeah well it was more than enough for him," I pointed out.

Jeff giggled and hugged me tightly. "I love my James," he said happily. "You love me James?"

"Yeah I love you," I told him.

"Is the room spinning for you? Cuz I don't like it."

I sighed loudly and led him away from his idiot friends and took him into the kitchen. "Come on. Let's get you some bread or something to soak up that alcohol."

"But I'm not hungry," he pouted. "My tummy is all bubbly and gurgly."

"Yeah well you just attempted to drink your weight in alcohol while upside down," I reminded him. "Of course your tummy is not going to feel good."

He pouted his lips and clutched at his stomach desperately. "I really don't feel good no more," he groaned.

"Uh oh." I tried to change direction so we could head into the bathroom but it was too late. He threw up all over the floor and while I jumped back just enough to not get any on me, Michelle McCool and Layla what's her face were not so lucky. They got puke all over their shoes and they started screaming and throwing a fit at the top of their lungs.

_Oh God…this is definitely going to be a long night._


	36. The Party Part 2

James

"I don't wanna go upstairs," Jeff mumbled as I carried him up to my room. He was trying to squirm out of my arms but I wasn't about to let him go. He was way too drunk to be wandering around this party. Like it or not, his night was definitely over as of now. "I wanna stay down with the people. I can't leave them it's…it's rude." He giggled and his head lulled to the side. He was so far gone that it was doubtful he was going to remember any of this in the morning.

"Who cares if it's rude?" I asked with a shrug. "Screw them. They can all go get hit by a train for all I care."

"Aw that's mean," Jeff informed me. He giggled drunkenly and gave me a wet kiss on the cheek. "You're so mean. You shouldn't be mean like that. You're too big of a sweetie to be mean."

I snorted and opened the door to my room. "Not many people would agree with that statement." I stepped into the room and kicked it shut behind me before setting him down on the bed.

"Well they're big poopy heads," Jeff declared firmly. "You hear me Jamesey? They're poopy heads." He reached up and wrapped his arms around my neck so he could pull me in for a hug. "I loves you."

I grinned and kissed his cheek. "I love you too." I tried to stand back up but he wasn't about to let me go anywhere. He actually wrapped his legs around me to keep me in place and I wasn't about to fight him off. That just seemed rather counter productive to me.

"Kiss me," he said, trying his best to sound authoritative but completely failing because he just didn't have it in him.

"Make me," I taunted playfully.

He pouted his lips and tried to do so but I moved my head back, laughing as he frowned and tried even harder. "Stop that!" he whined as I kept moving my head out of his reach. "That's mean! You're mean! Mean mean mean!"

"Oh yeah? I guess I should fix that then." I finally did kiss him and he accepted it happily. The kiss he gave me back was horribly sloppy but I accepted it anyway, my hands roaming his small body and easily ripping the dress off of him and tossing the remains aside. He giggled drunkenly and started trying to rip my costume off but I shook my head and wouldn't let him do it. "No no no. I like this too much to rip." I got up to my feet and took off my costume, tossing them into the corner of the room before climbing back on the bed and resuming the kissing, blindly reaching over the bedside table so I could grab the lube. This was probably taking advantage of him in his inebriated state but I figured that was okay since I was his boyfriend. I bet he would do the same thing if it was me who was wasted and he was the sober one in the mood to play.

"I love you," he told me as I began kissing my way down his neck and all over his collarbone.

"I love…how fucking delicious you are." I nibbled on his collarbone before dropping my head down lower and biting gently at his nipples.

He giggled and not too gently pulled on my hair. I let him do it though, focusing more on getting the bottle of lube open and pouring some on to my fingers. The substance was cold and I quickly rubbed my fingers together to warm it up before slipping one of my long digits inside of him. He mewled and practically started trying to hump my entire hand right then and there. "Hey now, settle down," I said, holding down his hips so he would stop that. "You don't want the fun to end too early do you?"

He just whined and tried to keep moving around despite the fact I was holding him down. "I need you," he whined sweetly. "So bad James its not fair." He grabbed on to his rapidly hardening cock and tried to stroke it but I slapped his hand away, making him whine even more. "James!"

"Nuh uh. We're playing my way today." I smirked at the look on his face before inserting another finger into him and began thrusting them in and stretching him as slowly as possible just to tease him. He whimpered and he kissed me hungrily, writing around and trying to plead with me to go faster. The display he was putting on was so fucking hot and I felt myself getting harder and harder by the second. It finally became too much for me to resist and I quickly removed my fingers and slammed my cock inside of him, making him scream loudly out of pleasure. Normally I tried to give him some time to adjust to my size but tonight I didn't. I had some alcohol in my system as well so my decision making process was affected and I found myself thrusting in and out of him as hard and fast as I possibly could.

"Oh fuck!" he moaned, clutching on to me for dear life as I pounded into him. "James! Mmmm…harder…"

"Harder?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "You sure you can handle it?" He nodded desperately so I indulged him, thrusting into him even harder and just about fucking him into the bed right into the bed. His moans were so loud and uncontrollable that the whole house was probably hearing us but I could hardly bring myself to give a shit. I just continued to fuck him mercilessly, wrapping one of my hands around his dick and stroking it in time to my thrusts. Seconds later I felt his already tight walls tighten around me even more and we were both quickly milking each other dry before either of us knew what hit us. His whole body went limp and it wasn't until I went to kiss him again that I realized he had actually just passed out completely. "Aw, that's cute," I said with a chuckle. I kissed his cheek and then pulled out of him so I could lay down beside him and wrap my arm around his body as I settled down in the most comfortable position that I could get in. I could hear the party raging on downstairs but I didn't give a shit about it. I was right where I wanted to be at the moment and I didn't care to leave that spot any time soon.

…

Annabelle

The party went on for hours and hours but I didn't stick around long enough to see what all went on. I retreated in my room and Dave stayed with me for awhile but I could tell he really wanted to be down there so I insisted he go back down there and have fun. He tried to object of course, but that was mostly for my sake because he went back down there pretty quick to go get drunk or whatever. I tried not to let it bother me too much though. That was just the way guys were. I just forced myself to get over it and go sit by the window so I could glance at what was going on outside. I could see Shane and Shannon stumbling all around, heading off to do who knew what. I didn't think it was a good idea for them to go especially when the cops in this town loved busting underage drunk kids but I wasn't about to stop them. Instead I just turned on my TV in order to drown out the noises coming from downstairs and also to forget how much I missed Cooper at that moment. He was rarely ever away from me so when he was it was extremely hard for me to deal with. He was my baby and I didn't want him to be away from me for a single second.

At some point I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, James was shaking me awake. "Belle! Belle!"

"What?" I said, jumping a little bit because I had been startled out of my sleep. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"Mark and I want to go hunting," he informed me.

I groaned. "Now? Right now?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because the call of blood is too much for me to resist," he replied with a grin.

I didn't return his grin. I did not support this plan and I wanted him to know it. "Please don't," I begged. "Please don't I'm begging you."

"But Belle, I gotta do it," he insisted, giving me those puppy dog eyes he knew I couldn't fight against. "We'll be back real quick, I promise. Just keep an eye on Jeff for me until then."

"But…but…" I sighed and reluctantly nodded. I could never really fight with him about it. I hated it when he killed people but what could I do? He wasn't ever going to stop. It was too much a part of what he was. All I could do was just hope he was as careful as possible and that he would never get caught because I wouldn't know what to do then. "Okay fine. Just hurry back, okay?"

He grinned and kissed my cheek. "Don't worry, we will."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

…

Shannon

I had no real idea where the hell I was anymore. Shane and I were going to go get more beer but that idea had gone out the window when…well I don't know why that idea had ended. I was way too far gone to really think any kind of coherent thought. What I did know was that I had wandered into an alley because Shane had gone into a gas station so he could take a piss. I would have gone in there too but the clerk kept glaring at me and it seemed like he wanted to do something bad to me. So I stayed outside, stumbling all around and making such an ass out of myself that I would cringe if I remembered any of it the next morning. "Come on come on," I said impatiently. "Fuck, can't you pee any faster Shane?" I hated waiting and I tried to turn around so I could head back to make him hurry up but I lost my balance and ended up falling back behind the dumpster.

"Aw man," I groaned. It stunk back there but I couldn't get up. My world was spinning too much so I just laid my head back so maybe it would stop. It didn't work completely but it helped so I stayed there, almost passing out when I was woken back up completely by a trashcan being knocked over and a loud scream turning into a painful whimper, which was then followed by a loud laugh.

"Gotcha! Ha, surprise mother fucker!"

I blinked, surprised as hell to hear James's voice right at the moment. What the hell was he doing out there?

"Could you be any louder Lawson?" Mark asked snippily. "Jesus, we're hunting right now! Doesn't that signal to you that this is supposed to be a quiet time?"

"Ah quiet time is for stick in the muds Marky!" James replied.

I blinked some more, hesitantly peeking my head out from behind the dumpster just in time to see James-James, who was my best friend's boyfriend-stab some guy I didn't even know right in the neck. I immediately moved back into my hiding spot, my hand over my mouth which had dropped in shock. I didn't even know what to do. My alcohol fueled mind was not allowing me to think properly. Maybe I was just seeing things. Maybe James hadn't stabbed anyone at all. Or maybe it wasn't James who had done the stabbing. It could have been someone who looked and sounded like him brutally stabbing a guy just for fun. Or maybe…well fuck, I didn't know. I just stayed as still and quiet as possible, not sure about what was going on but too scared to be stupid and do anything else that could get me seen and heard. I didn't even care that Shane was probably done by now and was looking for me. I was not moving from this spot and that was that.


	37. The Morning After

Jeff

I had heard tons of people complain about waking up with hangovers but I had never realized just how horrible they really were until now. I felt just so fucking terrible that I didn't know what to do with myself. My head was pounding so hard that it was bringing tears to my eyes and I was barely able to make it to the bathroom before I started throwing up. The bile spewing back out of my body tasted so nasty and bitter that it made me vomit more and I was practically bawling my eyes out by the time James grabbed my hair and pulled it back away from my face.

"Sssshhh," he said, rubbing my back and doing his best not to stare at the contents inside of the toilet bowl. "It's okay. Just relax and let it out."

I wasn't going to have a problem doing that. I couldn't keep it in even if I tried. I kept heaving and heaving until nothing more came out and then I coughed and gagged before grabbing the tissue that James was holding out for me and wiping my mouth with it. "Thank you," I said weakly. I dropped the tissue into the trash and then got up to my feet. "I need to brush my teeth."

"Yeah, I figured that one out already," James said with a small grin. He flushed the toilet and grabbed my toothbrush and put the toothpaste on it so I wouldn't have to do it. "Here you go."

"Thanks." I gratefully took it and brushed my teeth as fast as I could, more than eager to get the vomit taste out of my mouth. My stomach felt a bit better now but the pain in my head was still really horrible and I knew that if something wasn't done about it soon it would get to my stomach and get me sick all over again.

James watched me until I was done and then he put his arm around me and led me back towards his bedroom. Much to my surprise, there was a bottle of water and two aspirin now waiting for me on the little desk by the bed. "Belle must have heard you," James told me as he helped me lay down. "She's had to help me nurse hangovers too many times to count."

"Ugh," I groaned, snagging the aspirin and popping them in my mouth before chasing them down with the water. "Never let me drink again. Ever."

He grinned and brushed some of my hair out of my eyes. "Aw really? Never ever?"

"Never ever ever," I confirmed. I laid back down and motioned for him to do the same because I wanted to snuggle up against him. He immediately obliged and I happily rested my head against his chest, my arms going around him so I could hug him tightly. "I feel so fucking bad right now I can't stand it."

"Well you did overdo it for your first time out," he said gently. "You would be feeling better if you hadn't gone so gung-ho with it."

I pouted my lips and closed my eyes, intending to just rest my eyes to help the aspirin out in relieving my head pain. "What about you? Did you have a massive hangover the first time you drank?"

"I didn't have a pleasant one," he said a bit cryptically.

"Were you my age?"

"Younger."

"Younger?" I said, a bit startled to hear that. "How old?"

"…Ten."

My eyes snapped open and I sat straight up so I could give him a shocked look. "You drank when you were ten years old?"

He winced slightly at the look on my face. "Yeah. So what?"

I just stared at him incredulously, really at a loss for words. "Why?" I finally managed to ask.

He shrugged and looked at everything else in the room but me. "Mom was an alcoholic and I wanted to see what it was about so Mark and I got plastered on her booze."

"How did that uh…how did that work out for you?"

He hesitated for a minute before answering, which wasn't a good sign. "Mark and I set a fire and then I got my ass handed to me by Caroline. Bitch put me in a hospital she got me so bad."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Why? You didn't do it." He shifted around uncomfortably and shook his head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, okay?"

I nodded, not wanting to upset him more than he already obviously was. Caroline was just too sensitive of a subject for him to talk too openly about. She had fucked him up like Matt had done to me and I wasn't going to make him talk about it more. If he wanted to ever wanted to really talk about her then I would listen but I would leave it alone otherwise. I hated being forced to talk about the shit that had been done to me so I wasn't going to do that to him.

"I love you," I said as I laid back down against him.

He grinned and kissed the top of my head affectionately. "I love you too."

"I don't think we should get up today. We should just lay in bed and snuggle."

"Mmm. I'm on board with that. I don't think the others will be though."

"Why not?"

"Because they're going to want us to help them clean up the mess from last night."

I groaned at the very thought of that. I didn't like to clean when I felt perfectly fine so there was no way in hell I wanted to clean today. "No. No cleaning. You tell them no, okay?"

"Oh believe me, I will be doing that," he assured me. He hated cleaning just as much as I did. "But I don't think they're going to want to take that for an answer."

"So? You're a giant. Squish them until they see things your way."

He grinned, clearly liking that idea. But of course, he had to see a flaw in it. He was just difficult like that. "Mark and Glenn are about the same size as me. It might be kind of hard to get them good and squished."

"You could do it though," I said encouragingly. "I believe in you."

"Aw, thanks." He tilted my head up and kissed me. "I'll squish them nice and good for you then."

"And then you'll snuggles?"

"Yes. Squishing and snuggles is my current plan for the day and I shall accept no substitutes."

…

Annabelle

"Jesus Christ, look at this mess," Glenn lamented as we looked at the damage that had been done to the house. This was always the worst part about parties (well, second worst for me because of my extreme people phobia.); the after morning messes. "We're going to be here all day." He gave me a hopeful look. "Where's that meathead boyfriend of yours? Let's make him take care of this."

"He had to leave or his parents would have flipped out," I told him while trying to keep Cooper by me and away from the mess. He wasn't happy about having to stay put. He wanted to crawl around in the mess and get into stuff. "And he's not a meathead!"

"Yes he is," Mark said. "He's always been a meathead." He looked at Glenn and pointed towards the staircase. "Go get Lawson and tell him to get his ass down here and help us."

I shook my head as Glenn groaned in protest. "Jeff's not feeling good."

"So?"

"So James is gonna want to stay with him."

Mark snorted at that one. "That ain't my problem Belle. I'm not spending my entire day cleaning just because James wants to take care of his twink." He scowled at Glenn, who was making no move to go fetch James. "Hey! I said go get James, not stand there like a gigantic dummy!"

"But I don't even like him," Glenn said crankily. "I don't wanna go get him. He can stay up there all day for all I care."

"Oh you little fucking baby," Mark said in exasperation. He turned to me and snapped his fingers. "You. Fetch Lawson."

"Dude she's not a dog," Glenn snapped, coming to my defense as I looked down at my lap, barely noticing that Cooper was reaching under the couch to grab something. "Don't talk to her like that. And if you want him so bad, why don't you go get him yourself?"

"Maybe I will." Mark reached down to snag Cooper, which made me stiffen uncomfortably. "Come on. You're coming with me. Maybe if you yell for him he'll-"

"BA!" Cooper jammed the blade of the kitchen knife he had pulled out from under the couch directly into Mark's barefoot, not strong enough to make it go very deep but laughing at the pain it caused Mark.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" Mark howled, jumping up on to his good foot and hopping around the room. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT CHILD?"

"Da!" Cooper said happily as I stared at him in shock. "Me da! Me da!"

"Cooper what…" I could barely even speak I was so shocked.

Glenn smirked and yanked the knife out of Mark's foot, which made him howl even more. "Are you doing what your daddy does?" he asked Cooper playfully.

"YES!" Cooper shouted gleefully, looking at me for approval. I couldn't give it though. I just stared at him in shock, unable to say a word. I could barely even think. All I knew was that James and I were going to have to have a serious talk and we were going to have to do it as soon as possible.

…

Shannon

Shane and I woke up in a tangled mess of limbs on his bed. We both felt like shit but we couldn't sleep any longer. The sun was shining in through the blinds so brightly that it was hurting our eyes and keeping us from being able to rest. "Fuck," Shane groaned, untangling himself from me and rolling off the bed. "I call bathroom."

I could only grunt in response. I felt like too much shit to move. This wasn't the first time I had ever suffered a hangover but this one was a bit worse than the other ones. My head was pounding so hard that I was having trouble piecing together what the hell had happened last night. I remembered being at the party and getting blasted and then things got a bit blurry for me. I remember lots and lots of walking…Shane and I were lucky we hadn't gotten arrested for running around drunk.

"What the fuck else happened?" I asked myself, rubbing my temples as I continued trying to piece everything together. It was hard because of the pain but I gritted my teeth anyway. I remembered going into an alley while Shane went to find a bathroom and then James and Mark had shown up…

"Holy fuck," I said in shock as the rest of the events from that alley came rushing back. James and Mark had killed a man. I remembered that as clear as day. I know I hadn't misinterpreted that. I had been drunk but I hadn't been hallucinating or anything. That shit had been too real. "Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck." I didn't even know what else to say. What could I say? I witnessed my best friend's boyfriend slaughtering someone. That wasn't shit you saw on an everyday basis. It was so startling that I was trying to deny it as hard as I could. I couldn't have seen what I thought I saw. It wasn't possible. James and Mark hadn't been the ones in that alley. There was no way that was possible.

But as hard as I tried to deny it to myself, I couldn't escape the knowing I had deep in my gut. I just knew it had been Mark and James. I knew it and I couldn't truly deny it and that scared me. It wasn't even like they had killed that guy out of revenge or in self defense. Not judging from what I had overheard anyway. They had been talking about hunting…and the way James had been acting…oh lord, it was like he had been having fun. That was a horrible thing to even consider but that was yet another truth I couldn't deny to myself. James had been having fun. He had fun killing someone. What in the world had Jeff gotten himself into? Did he know anything about this? Obviously he couldn't know anything about last night's incident because he had been so far gone…or maybe he did know? I didn't know. I fucking didn't know anything and I was freaking out. My best friend's boyfriend had killed someone and I didn't know what to do.

"Shannon?"

I blinked and realized that Shane was back and he was staring at me in concern. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

"I…" I hesitated, trying to pull my thoughts together as best as I could despite my hungover state. "I need to talk to Jeff," I finally said. I needed to talk to him as soon as humanly possible…with James as far away from us as possible.


	38. The Talk

James

"We need to talk."

I repressed a groan at that statement. Usually anyone saying that was never good news and add in the fact that it was Annabelle saying it to me…yeah, it definitely wasn't good news. "Okay," I said, taking Cooper out of her arms and bouncing him up and down. "Hey buddy. Did you have a nice nap?"

Cooper cooed and rested his head against my shoulder, which made me grin. The kid really was too cute for his own good.

"James…" Annabelle said timidly, trying to get my attention back without bothering me. That had to mean she was going to try to talk to me about something I wouldn't want to talk about. She hated trying to force those kinds of conversations because she had no confidence in herself to really stand her ground.

"What?" I said innocently. "Jeez Belle, you look all upset about something." I looked around and kissed the side of Cooper's head. "Where's Jeff at?"

"Shannon's," she replied. "He called…they had homework to do together or something."

"Oh." I pouted my lips and hugged Cooper tightly in order to try to make myself feel better. I wanted Jeff to be here so I could be with him. Stupid Shannon. He was lucky he was friends with Jeff or I would have kicked his ass for stealing him from me. "What about Mark and Crispy?"

Annabelle noticeably cringed. "Hospital," she informed him.

That made me frown. "Hospital? Why? What happened?"

"Well…" she sighed and nodded at Cooper. "He uh…found a knife under the couch and stabbed Mark in the foot with it."

Well then. That wasn't really what I was expecting to hear. "Really?" My lips twitched at the news before I burst out laughing. I knew it wasn't supposed to be funny but I couldn't help it. "You did that?" I asked Cooper, who was smiling at me because I was laughing. "Did you stab Marky in the foot?"

"Da!" he replied. I was just going to take that as a yes.

"James it's not funny," Annabelle insisted gently. She took Cooper back from me and hugged him tight. "This is serious."

"Why? Cuz Mark is pissed?" I shook my head. "I'll talk to him and calm him down. Cooper's a baby, he'll understand that he didn't mean it."

"That's not the point," Annabelle informed me. "He's a _baby_ James and he just _stabbed_ someone. I know he didn't mean to do it but this still isn't good. You're his father…once he gets older he's going to eventually find out what you do."

"No he won't," I insisted. We had had this fight before and I really didn't want to have it again. "I can hide it real good from him and he'll never know."

She gave me a look of total disbelief. No matter how many times I assured her that I could keep my homicidal activities hidden from Cooper, she never believed me. "If you keep doing it there's always going to be a huge chance that he'll find out," she said, fidgeting around nervously which meant this discussion was only going to go one way.

"Belle," he said, shaking his head already. "Don't do this. I don't want to talk about this right now."

"But James…" She adjusted her hold on Cooper and tried to keep herself from twisting her hands together like she always did when she was nervous. "Can't you just think about trying to give it up? I mean, do you really need it?"

Yes. I didn't say that out loud because I knew that would upset her. But in all actuality, I knew that I couldn't cope with not killing people. Society and Annabelle dictated that I was wrong in my actions but it didn't feel wrong to me at all. To me, killing was as natural as breathing at this point. Yes sometimes I did it just for fun but I wasn't Mark. That wasn't where it stopped for me. It was literally a part of who I was now. The bloodlust lived deep deep inside of me and would never accept me pushing it to the side and not satisfying it. It would only blow up in my face if I tried.

Annabelle saw the look on my face and let out a long sigh of defeat before shaking her head. "Forget it. Just forget I said anything."

I felt bad because I knew I had upset her but what else could I do? It wasn't like she was truly trying to push a change on me. Any other half hearted attempts would just fail because she didn't have it in her to stand up and make me change my ways, no matter how much she wanted to. "Oh come on, please don't give me that look," I pleaded. I didn't want her to be mad at me. That was just not shit that I could stand.

"I'm not giving you a look," she denied. She was a horrible liar and we both knew it. That was the part that really sucked. "I don't know what you're talking about." She did her best to ignore the knowing look I was giving her and instead focused on Cooper, who was getting restless in her arms. "What's the matter sweetie? Are you hungry? Is that it?"

Cooper cooed a whole bunch of baby gibberish and she nodded along right with it.

"You are? Okay, Mommy will take you to get something to eat."

I watched them leave the room, shaking my head and feeling even worse because even if she would never say it, my homicidal tendencies really did disappoint her. She had a sense of morals that I had never possessed and would never understand how I could do the things I did. And because she could never understand why I did it, I couldn't make her understand why I couldn't quit. And given all that, the disappointment she felt in me would never go away. And that was what really fucking killed me.

"Fuck!" I kicked the coffee table out of frustration. The bang it made as it hit the wall scared the fuck out of Sparky, which made me feel bad all over again. "Sorry boy." I reached out and patted him on the head until he calmed back down. "Sorry."

He looked at me and wagged his tail and gave me a big doggy smile before going to lay down on his bed, which was in the corner of the room. At least I didn't disappoint him.

I plopped down on the chair and rubbed my eyes slowly. The same exact argument about Cooper finding out could easily be used when it came to Jeff. Deep down, I knew that the longer we stayed together, the more likely it was that my big secret would come to light-unless I either stopped or made sure to stay damn good at hiding it.

_I'm like fucking Batman here…though Batman had a cooler car and wasn't a homicidal maniac. And I'm better looking than him. Much much better looking._ I nodded along to my own thoughts about my looks before getting back up so I could find my phone. I needed to call Mark and see if he was okay and then I had to get a hold of Jeff so I could get him to ditch Shannon and come back to me. I knew I was already hogging a lot of Jeff's time but I didn't care. He was mine and I would hog him as much as I damned well pleased. And if anyone didn't like it, they could just kiss my ass.

…

Jeff

"Ugh," I groaned as I threw my pencil down in frustration. "I hate this. I want it to go to hell." Shannon and I were trying to do our math homework and it was not going well at all. Every time I thought I had figured out the answers I turned out to be wrong and it was really starting to piss me off. 'Whoever created this bullshit needs to be shot." I looked at Shannon, expecting him to jump all over my statement and giving it its full approval. Instead he was just sitting there, staring at the table while occasionally giving me worried looks out of the corner of his eye. "What? What's wrong?"

He bit down his lower lip and shifted around in his chair nervously. "I have to talk to you about something," he informed me.

"Okay." I turned myself in my chair so I was completely facing him. "Spill."

He winced and shifted around some more. "It's um…its not that easy…you might not believe me."

I raised my eyebrows. "Did you get another anal probe from the aliens? Because I told you that you only think that happens when you go smoke weed with Brian Kendrick. He's the one doing the probing, not the aliens."

His lips twitched but didn't really go into a smile. "No…" He finally looked at me and his expression freaked me out a bit. I had never seen him quite this serious. "I um…you know the night of the party?"

"Well yeah…I didn't get to party too much because I nearly drank myself into a coma right off the bat." I rubbed my stomach a bit, just queasy at the thought of ever drinking again.

"Right…well you see, Shane and I were walking after we left the party and Shane stopped in a little gas station to use their bathroom. I stumbled into an alley-"

"A dark alley, alone, near Halloween?" I shook my head at him. "Shanny you dumbass! Why would you do that? That's dangerous."

"Jeff! Just listen to me for a minute, okay?"

I closed my mouth, once again taken aback by his seriousness.

"I was in the alley and I fell behind a dumpster. I was starting to really not feel good so I just was kind of laying there. And then all of a sudden I heard a trash can being knocked over and there were three guys and one of them was being attacked…I don't know who he was. But one of the other guys was just watching and the third guy…he _stabbed_ the first guy. Right there. Just killed him."

"Oh my God," I said under my breath. I tried to process all of that but it was hard. "Who would do that? And what did you do? Did they try to come after you? Did you call the police?"

He slowly shook his head. "No…Jeff I didn't know what to do. I _knew_ the other two guys."

"Really?" Wow. No wonder Shannon was so freaked out. "Holy shit. Who were they? Do I know them too?"

He nodded hesitantly. "The one that just stood there was Mark-"

"_Mark_?" I squeaked out. "Really?" I knew he wasn't really all that nice of a guy but to hear THAT from Shannon was shocking. "Who was he with? Oh my God, it wasn't Glenn was it? Because I think Evan might like him and-"

"It was James," Shannon said quickly.

I stopped and frowned. "What?"

"James," he repeated. "James killed the guy. Like fucking cold blooded murder right in front of me."

I just stared at him, those words taking a very long time to even begin to sink in. James killing somebody? No…no no no no. That wasn't right. "That's not funny Shanny," I said, folding my arms over my chest crossly. "Seriously, that's not something to joke about."

"I wasn't joking!" Shannon said earnestly. "Jesus Christ Jeff, you know me! You know I wouldn't joke about something like this."

I knew that and that was what scared me. I had known Shannon since we were both kids. He liked to joke around sure but once he was serious about something there was no denying it. "There was a mistake then," I insisted. "You were drunk you might have gotten confused. You just thought it was James but it was someone else."

"Jeff-"

I shook my head and got up. I didn't want to hear him insisting that he was right. I didn't think he was lying intentionally but there had to be a mistake. There just had to be. James wouldn't just hurt someone with no reason. He wouldn't do that.

"Jeff?" Shannon got up and started following me as I left the room. "Where are you going?"

"I gotta go find James," I replied. "I gotta talk to him. There's been a mistake."

Shannon's eyes just about popped out of his head. "Dude! You're going to tell him I saw him do that shit? What if this wasn't a mistake? You're going to get me kil-"

"No!" I insisted stubbornly, shaking my head and making him shut up. "You're not getting killed. I'll keep your name out of it but…there's been a mistake. You'll see. This is just one giant mistake." I avoided his hands as he tried to reach out and stop me and bolted out of the house. I didn't have time to waste. I was going to talk to James and settle this matter. My boyfriend was not a killer. Yeah okay he did get Matt but he did that to protect me. He wasn't a cold blooded murderer. Not him. Never him.


	39. Best Laid Plans

Jeff

I walked into the house, trying to act as calm and casual as possible even though my mind was still racing from the conversation I had just had with Shannon. I was trying my best to just push it out of my mind and blow it off as just being completely ridiculous. There was only one problem with it though: it had come out of _Shannon's_ mouth. I couldn't just blow it off, no matter how much I wanted to. He had been my best friend ever since we were kids; he wouldn't just make shit like that up. Not to me anyway.

_It has to be a big misunderstanding,_ I told myself yet again. I must have said this to myself a hundred times already but I wasn't about to stop now. _It was just a misunderstanding. Shannon was drunk and probably just saw someone that looked like James. That just made him get all confused. Yeah, that had to be it. _I repeated that one a few times to myself as I looked around and tried to see if I could hear where James was before I saw him. "James?" I finally called out when that didn't work. I made sure the door was all the way closed behind me before venturing further into the house. "James? Are you here?" I went into the living room and found Annabelle and Cooper playing with his toys as they watched TV.

"Hi Jeff," she said, glancing at me for only a second before looking down, letting her long brown hair fall over her face. She liked to do that a lot and I didn't understand why. She was always hiding when she had no reason to.

"Hi," I said. I crouched down beside Cooper and played with his mess of bright red hair. In a lot of ways he had gotten the Lawson looks but the hair was a huge reminder of the fact that he was biologically Mark's child. I didn't know how Mark could not want to take responsibility for this kid. I wanted James to say something to Mark about it but James wasn't about to do that. Despite actually being Cooper's uncle he was full on playing the daddy role and wasn't about to give that shit up for anything. "Hey buddy. Are you playing with your mommy?"

Cooper looked up at me with wide eyes before crawling off, going right into Annabelle's lap and making himself comfortable so he could nom on his toy hammer in peace.

Annabelle smiled and kissed the top of his head. "That's my boy," she said affectionately. She kissed the top of his head again. "That's my good boy."

"Is James here?" I asked, getting back on track with what was really on my mind. I was really hoping that he was here so I could talk to him and get this conversation over with.

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean I haven't seen him leave…" She had this uneasy look on her face and I frowned, wondering just what the hell that was about. "Maybe try looking upstairs. He could be up there with Sparky."

"Okay." I got back up and headed up the stairs, glancing back for a split second when I heard Cooper coo loudly before shaking my head and continuing on with my search for James. "James? Are you up here?" I strained my ears listening hard, eventually hearing him and Sparky in his room. "James?" I opened the door and I couldn't help but smile at the scene before me. James was on the floor wrestling around with Sparky and he just looked so damn happy that I couldn't bear to break up the owner/doggy playtime. Not at the moment anyway.

"Gotcha!" James exclaimed, grabbing Sparky and acted like he was roughly grabbing him and shaking him when he was actually just more hugging him than anything else. "I gotcha! What ya gonna do now? Huh? Whatchya gonna do?"

Sparky made playful growling noises and moved around as best as he could in James's grasp, play biting him until he got loose and then pounced on him in order to pin him down and lick his face. I had to laugh at that, which finally drew attention to myself.

"Hey," James said, kissing Sparky affectionately before motioning for me to come in. "Get in here. What are you doing just standing out there?"

I shrugged and came into the room like he told me to. "I didn't want to interrupt," I told him. "You guys looked like you were having fun."

"We were." He let go of Sparky and hopped up on to his bed before reaching out and grabbing my hand. "But now I can have fun with you while Sparky naps."

"James-" I was cut off by being pulled right into his lap and kissed on the lips, his tongue sliding into my mouth when I gave in and started returning the kisses. His large hands slid up my shirt and his fingers started running up and down my back, making me shiver lightly. "James…" I sighed in contentment as he started kissing all over my neck. I had to focus and stay on point. "We need to talk."

"About what?" he asked as he continued to kiss my neck. "Is it important?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "It is."

He sighed at that and reluctantly took his hands out from underneath my shirt. "Okay," he agreed. He let me climb off his lap and sit next to him instead. He obviously wasn't entirely happy about it but he was being respectful and not complaining about it. "Let's talk then."

"Okay." I opened my mouth to start talking and then realized I had no idea how to actually start this conversation. Where did I even begin? This wasn't exactly a conversation I knew how to have. "I um…I…"

"Yeah?" James prompted, his brow furrowing at my inability to really get the conversation going. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah…um…look, I was told something earlier," I said, crossing my legs and taking a deep breath. I just had to do it and get it over with. There was absolutely no sense in just beating around the bush. I had to just say it and get it over with. Once we got this all straightened out I would feel better. "Someone told me that on the night of the party, they saw you…well they saw you kill someone."

James just stared at me, not giving any kind of reaction for a very long couple of minutes. Finally he just began to laugh. He laughed very loudly and shook his head, apparently thinking this was absolutely hilarious. "You're joking," he stated as he continued to laugh. It almost looked like he was going to start crying he was laughing so hard. "You're joking aren't you?"

"No," I said, not sure how to take this reaction. I mean yeah I wanted it to be not true and all that, but was laughing this hard about it really an appropriate reaction? "I really got told that."

"And do you like…believe it?" James was starting to settle down a bit when he saw the serious look on my face. "Do you really believe what they said?"

"I believe they believe it," I replied honestly. "But they were drunk at the time-"

"Then they got me confused with somebody else," he said, quick to jump right on that bandwagon. "It's just a misunderstanding." He cupped my face in his hands and gave me a big kiss. "Whatever they thought they saw, they were wrong, you understand me?" He waited until I nodded before speaking again. "Who said that anyway?"

"Nobody," I quickly replied. I wasn't going to rat out Shannon. I knew he was still convinced in what he saw and would freak out if I told James it was him who said it. "Just forget it. I was silly for letting that get me." I kissed him again before he could try to pry the answer out of me again. Now that I had heard what I had wanted to hear, I was more than ready to put those bad thoughts behind me and focus on the good. "I love you." I kissed him again and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly and resting my forehead against his shoulder.

"I love you too," he said, letting me squeeze him for a second before returning the hug. In the process of the hugging his hands slipped underneath my shirt once more and resumed the groping they had been doing before. "Now where were we…"

…

Shannon

I sighed as I flipped through my wrestling magazine, unable to really concentrate on it like I normally would have been able to do. My mind was fully on Jeff and James. Looking back, I was starting to think that I shouldn't have told Jeff about the whole seeing James killing someone thing. At least not when I did. I should have somehow gotten at least some kind of proof to back up my statement. My word did mean a lot to Jeff but me being drunk at the time was obviously going to count against me and the lack of evidence would too. All James was really going to have to do was deny deny deny and Jeff would believe him no matter what. There was just no way around that. I was really really starting to believe he was becoming utterly dependent on James. It seriously seemed to go way beyond the whole constant spending time together people did in newer relationships and it was freaking me out. I know Jeff was with someone that made him feel safe for the first time in like forever but still…something just seemed wrong with the entire situation and I did not like it. I did not like it one bit.

I finally threw down my magazine, accepting the fact that I wasn't going to be able to look at it properly any time soon. I had to fucking figure out what the fuck to do. Instincts ruled by fear told me to just drop the subject and leave it the hell alone. If I really had seen what I had saw (and I was pretty sure that I did, drunkenness notwithstanding) then James was even crazier than people thought. And I didn't fuck with crazy people. That was just not smart in my book. But every time I thought about it that way, I reminded myself that Jeff was dating him and I couldn't just leave the subject alone. He was my best friend, I had to look out for him. If James really was some kind of crazy killer, what was going to happen if he and Jeff had a fight or had an ugly break-up or something like that? Would James do something to him? I knew Jeff would immediately deny that that would ever happen but I couldn't be put to rest that easily.

I grabbed my cell phone and stared at it, still trying to figure out what the fuck to do. I knew I needed someone else to talk to but who? There was Shane but I knew James freaked him out so there wasn't going to be a whole lot he would do to really help the matter. Evan was definitely not an option. He would more than likely take Jeff's side on the matter and that wouldn't get me anywhere. I didn't know Glenn well enough to turn to him and besides from that, given that Mark was involved in the mess too, I didn't want to tip off Mark and let him know that I was on to him and James. I could trust Jeff to keep my name out of James's ears but I couldn't trust Glenn to do the same.

There was Dave…yeah, I could try him. Sure he was dating Annabelle but I knew he wasn't exactly in the James fan club so it wasn't like he was biased because of his relationship status. And then there was Phil…I knew he and Jeff had been getting close and he was an outside observer to the whole thing. He would maybe be able to give me some kind of advice on the matter.

Having that settled in my head, I texted Dave and told him we had to talk at school on Monday. I didn't know Phil's number so I couldn't text him but I did have math with him so I would be able to catch up with him then. I got up off my bed and grabbed my house keys. I couldn't just sit around and let time pass by slowly. I was going to have to go to Shane's and have him distract me until Monday came-a task I was sure he was more than willing to take.

…

James

I watched as Jeff slept curled up in my arms, our sweat cooling and drying against our bodies. He had been put to rest by my reassurances that I had not killed anyone the night of the party…reassurances that were all lies and were now bothering me and keeping me from being able to go to sleep. I was trying to tell myself that it was better this way. It was better that he didn't know and I protected him from the knowledge. But the fact that I had lied to him so damn easily was eating away at me. I loved him. I really really did. Yet I lied right to his face and it wasn't a harmless little white lie. It was a big ugly lie that he was going to have to know the truth about someday if we were going to be together for a long time. And if he ever found out the truth, the lie today would come back and bite me in the ass big time.

_Fuck me…_Who the hell had seen us? That was what I wanted to know. That mother fucker had just caused a shit load of problems for me…they had no idea…or maybe they did and they were laughing at me now. Fuckers. I needed to fucking find out who they were. I couldn't just ask Jeff though…me bringing up the question again would be too suspicious. I was going to have to find some other means of finding out.

And once I was successful the person who saw me and Mark and opened his big mouth was going to wish he was never born.


	40. What To Do

Shannon

"Shan? You okay?"

Evan's question made me snap out of the spaced off state I was in. "I'm fine," I assured him. I was completely and totally lying but I didn't want him to know that. The whole Jeff/James/murder thing was still on my mind and I hadn't talked to Dave or Phil yet so I wasn't feeling remotely better.

"Are you sure?" Evan's voice was soft and cautious, knowing that I wasn't alright but not willing to make me talk in fear that I would be mad at him. He was the type of person who wouldn't stand up for himself or say anything that needed to be said because he couldn't bear to have people mad at him.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I assured him. I did feel bad for lying to him. I wasn't the type of person to just lie to his friends on any kind of a regular basis. But this time it was for the best. Evan couldn't deal with what I had on my mind. I needed someone that would actually help me, not wuss out on me because the going was tough.

Evan let the subject drop and we sat in the rest of the class in silence. Once the bell rang we left the room and went our separate ways, Evan going to his locker to get a science book and me heading to Phil's locker hoping to catch him there. I was supposed to meet Dave in an empty classroom by his locker so we could talk in peace.

"Excuse me…pardon me…god damn people, get the hell out of the way!" I pushed my way through the crowded hallway, pissing off several people in the process and not stopping to give a shit. This school had the worst fucking traffic jams between classes because assholes just stopped in the middle of the hallway to talk to each other or whatever. I never understood what possessed people to do that. There was nothing wrong with talking up against the walls because then you were out of the fucking way. But could people do that? Nooo. They had to be all difficult and be in the fucking way. It was fucking ridiculous.

After I finally was done pushing my way through everyone, I managed to find Phil at his locker. "Yo! Phil! Phil!" If he walked away from me right now after I went through all this trouble to find him I was going to be pissed.

Phil turned around and raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw me coming. "Hey Shannon, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you about something," I told him.

"Okay, shoot."

"No, not here."

"Why not?" He frowned when he saw the look on my face. "What is it man?"

I shook my head and grabbed his arm. "Come on." This wasn't something that I wanted to discuss where anyone could overhear us. Almost everyone in this school had a big fat fucking mouth so if they overheard me, the shit would be spread all across the school before the end of the day and that would just not do any good at all.

Phil still looked confused as hell but he allowed me drag him along like a dog on a leash. I pushed our way through the crowd, getting even more irritated with everyone around me. "Fucking assholes," I muttered as I finally got us to the room Dave was already in.

"A little cranky there Shan?" Dave asked, actually looking amused by how annoyed I looked.

"Gee, what gave that away?" I shook my head and let go of Phil's arm so I could lock the door behind us.

Phil looked back and forth between me and Dave, still looking beyond confused. "What's this all about? Can I get told or am I supposed to guess?"

Now if I was in my normal smartass mood I would have told him yes he did have to guess or maybe even lie and say Dave and I wanted him to be a part of a threesome with us. But I couldn't muster up the will to do that and instead got down to business. "I gotta talk to you guys about James and Mark."

Phil's eyes widened and the amusement was wiped right off of Dave's face. I just went ahead and launched into what I saw on Halloween night, thankfully not getting stopped by any interruptions. Once I was done I waited for them to say something. I ended up waiting much longer than I thought I would. Phil just looked all bugged eye and shit and Dave…well he actually didn't look totally surprised which threw me off guard.

"Are you sure that's what you saw?" Dave finally asked. "You said you were drunk so-"

"It's what I saw," I confirmed quickly. "I'm like pretty damn sure that's what I saw."

"I…what…holy fuck…" That was Phil's contribution to the situation. "I knew they were psycho but…" He shook his head in disbelief. "Have you gone to the cops?"

"You think they would believe me?" I asked with a snort. "I was drunk and LOOK at me!" I pointed to my Mohawk and piercings. "You think the cops in this town will take ME seriously?"

"Well shit." Phil knew I was right. I looked the part of resident freak and the instant I stepped into a police department they would be looking to associate me with something I didn't even do and not even listen to what I had to say. "Did you talk to Jeff?"

"Of course," I confirmed. "He didn't believe me."

"How could he not believe you? You're his best friend aren't you?"

"Yeah but look at him and James. He's freaking latched on to him like super glue and won't hear a word against him."

The look on Phil's face clearly showed how much he didn't like that. He shook his head in disgust and looked at Dave. Dave looked at the both of us and sighed loudly. "I can't really say I'm surprised," he finally admitted.

"You can't?" I said incredulously.

"Come on Shan, I've been going to school with James and Mark for years now," Dave reminded me. "Mark's a cold bastard who don't give a shit and James is a loony toon. Everyone's always known it."

"So why hasn't anyone done anything about it?" Phil asked.

"Well it's not like we actually knew they were doing anything like killing and shit," Dave said with a shrug. "All the trouble they've gotten into that we can all confirm is stupid juvenile shit. Anything else was all whispered and shit and totally not proven."

"Example?" I prompted.

"James's parents."

"He has them?" Phil said and Dave shook his head.

"He did…where they are now is totally debatable. The official story for Joseph was that he abandoned the family to be with some hot little number in Mexico. But the thing is, Joseph's reputation for total disrespect for women is legendary. He only married Caroline because he was going to be cut off otherwise."

"How do you know that?"

"Annabelle told me that. And my dad knew him somewhat well and told me that he was a suspect in a few rapes but nothing was ever brought before any courts. And it was no secret that he bullied Annabelle and tried to do the same shit with James and James hated him."

"So you think James like…killed him?" Shit, this wasn't exactly the way I thought this conversation would go.

"Maybe…or Caroline did it." Dave ran his hand over the top of his closely shaven head. "He and Caroline had a horrible relationship and she was just…she was evil."

"How do you know that?" Phil asked.

"Because I met her for all about ten seconds," Dave replied. "Believe me, that was enough. And now she hasn't been seen around either and nobody's asking questions because they're just glad she's gone…even if Caroline killed Joseph and not James there's no doubt in my mind James offed Caroline himself. Not that I blame him for that one. If even half the horror stories about her are true she had it coming."

Now it was mine and Phil's turn to just be silent. We had to soak all of that information in. "Well that's sad and all, but that's not any kind of excuse if he is running around killing innocent people." That was Phil breaking our silence. "If he offed his abusive mommy, fine. If he did the same to daddy then fine. Whatever. But if he's offing _innocent_ people-"

"They," I corrected. "Mark was in on it too."

"If _they_ are offing innocent people, then they can't get away with it." Phil shook his head. "That's not right they can't fucking do it. We have to do something about it."

"I know," I said. "But what? What the hell can we do about it?"

"We need to keep an eye on them," Dave said. "That's about all we can do."

"That and try to find some evidence," Phil added. "There's gotta be something we can…" He stopped and his eyes widened as we heard someone trying to get into the room. "Shit."

I shook my head as I heard the click signifying the door was being unlocked. "We'll continue this later?"

Dave and Phil both nodded just as the door opened and we came fact to face with an irritated Officer Slaughter. _Oh boy, this will be fun…_

…

James

I bounced Cooper in my lap gently as I watched Mark pace back and forth. We had cut out of school early and I insisted on picking Cooper up from Tammy's before going home and discussing the whole Halloween party incident. I still had no idea who told Jeff that they saw us and it bothered me. That meant some unknown asshole had power over me and I did not like that at all. Enough people had had power over me in my life that I didn't need anyone else added to that list.

"Fucking shit this is fucking bullshit," Mark growled. He hadn't been in the best of moods to begin with and it had only gotten worse when I had broken the news to him. "You sure you can't get who it was out of him?"

I nodded. "It'll look a little suspicious if I keep pressing him, don't you think?"

He grunted in response. He knew I was right in that aspect but he just didn't want to admit it out loud.

"Da da da!" Cooper shouted, putting his hands all over my face to get my attention.

"Whatty whatty whatty?" I cooed.

He grabbed my nose and squeezed it hard, laughing when I tried to nom on his hand in return.

"Would you stop playing with him for five seconds and focus?" Mark asked, stopping his pacing so he could come over and snap his fingers in front of my face. "We've got a bit of an issue here."

"I know but he's so cute." I turned Cooper around so he was facing Mark. "Isn't he cute?"

Mark rolled his eyes and Cooper squirmed and whined until I turned him back around to face me. Cooper didn't seem to like Mark very much at all. I sometimes wondered if that was a sign of things to come for when he was older. "Who do you think could have said that shit to him?" See? I was being a good boy and getting back on track.

"Well he's not Mr. Popularity so I don't think our suspect list is that long," Mark replied. "And if he actually brought it up to you that means it's someone he trusts not to just make up stories like that." He flopped down on the couch and started counting those people off his hand. "Shannon, Evan, Dave and Phil."

I frowned. "Brooks?"

"Cody says they look pretty chummy in art class."

I scowled at that. I had seen the way Phil looked at Jeff. There were definitely ways he was looking to get chummy with him that I didn't appreciate at all.

If Mark noticed the look on my face he didn't acknowledge it. "I know Evan passed out at the party not long after Jeff did so it wasn't him. Shane and Shannon left but there's no telling where they went. Phil wasn't even at the party-"

"But that don't mean he didn't see us," I pointed out.

"True." Mark sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What the fuck Lawson? Weren't we careful?"

"I thought we were."

"Then how the fuck did we get in this mess?"

"Bad luck? I don't fucking know man. I know we have to get the fuck out of it though. If they go to the cops-"

"Wouldn't they have done that though already?" Mark leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I mean really, we didn't even know we had been seen until Jeff brought this up. There was plenty of time to go to the cops."

"Well thank fuck they haven't," I said as I grabbed a stuffed animal for Cooper to hold and chew on. "Maybe they aren't completely sure they saw what they did. Maybe they were drunk."

"If they were that leaves Dave and Shannon," Mark said after he thought about it for a minute. "Brooks is Straightedge."

"What the fuck is that?"

"No drinking, no smoking, no promiscuous sex…"

"Like the Amish?"

Mark stared at me like I was retarded. "Like the Amish?"

"Yeah. Isn't that what Amish people do? Don't drink or smoke-"

"The Amish are those fuckers that live like it's still the 1800s."

"But I thought those were Mormans-"

"No, the Mormans are those guys who have like a whole bunch of wives and they live in Utah."

"Belle says they don't do the wife thing anymore."

"Well whatever! I don't give a flying fuck. I care about not getting fucking hosed by the cops!" His tone irked Cooper, who started fussing and I immediately started trying to comfort him.

"See what you did?" I shook my head and got up so I could walk around with Cooper.

He just shook his head. "I didn't do it Lawson."

"You did too."

"I did-oh just forget it." He got back up to his feet. "I'm going."

"Going where?" I asked with a frown.

"Away."

"Why?"

"Because I can't think when he cries like that."

"He's a baby, it happens."

Mark grunted once again and then he was gone. Right out the door, leaving me alone with Cooper, who quieted right down as soon as Mark was gone. "You don't like him do you buddy?" I shook my head. "You'll get used to him…eventually."


	41. Slip of the Tongue

James

"Aren't you supposed to be feeding him that with the spoon?" Jeff asked as we watched Cooper scoop up the baby food in his bowl with his fingers and stick them in his mouth. We were at the table, having raided the fridge of any and all leftovers. Annabelle was gone and I couldn't cook to save my life so cold leftovers it was.

I shrugged and swallowed my mouthful of pizza. "He seems happy doing that."

"He's making a mess."

"So? He's a baby. If he wasn't making a mess I'd be worried." I reached over and swiped some of Cooper's food up with my finger and stuck it in my mouth. "Yummm…sweet potatoes."

Jeff wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "That's disgusting."

"No it's not. It's good." I tried to get some more to feed to Jeff but Cooper actually smacked my hand with both of his and gave me quite the little angry look. "Daddy can't have more?" I asked with a pout.

"No!" Cooper smacked my hand again and kept glaring at me until I backed off.

Jeff smirked and pointed at me while doing a little childish dance in his seat. "You got told off! You got told off!"

I grabbed a pepperoni off my pizza and tossed it at him. "Oh be quiet. I can totally swipe any of his other food without him ever even knowing."

"But _why_ would you really want to?" Jeff asked. He was poking at the leftover Chinese he was eating with his chopsticks. "I mean really. It's all weird and mushy-"

"_Why_ do you insist on questioning me?" I asked. "Don't ask these things. Just go with my flow."

"Go with your flow?"

"Yes. Your life will be much easier if you do this." I flashed my most charming smile before practically inhaling my pizza. Jeff looked like he didn't even know what to say to that. This wasn't the first time he looked that way today. I had woken up in a pretty obnoxious mood and was acting on it accordingly. I couldn't explain why exactly I was doing it. It was just one of those things that was what it was and why not act on it? Repression of any kind was not approved of by me.

We sat in silence for awhile, him eating and me watching Cooper play with his food. My hands and feet were fidgeting on their own accord and eventually I started rocking back and forth in my chair. I wanted to go somewhere. I _needed_ to go somewhere. I hated just staying in this house. Everywhere I went there were reminders of shit I would just rather forget completely. Staying here much longer was about as unappealing as an option could get. We had to get out of here and had to do it fast. My head would probably spin off my body and explode if we didn't.

"James? Are you okay?" Jeff interrupted my little train of thought there.

"Let's get out of here," I said quickly. I pushed my chair back and got up so I could lift Cooper from his high chair.

"And go where?"

"Anywhere. Everywhere. Who cares?" I carried Cooper to the kitchen and wet a rag so I could start cleaning him up. That turned out to be much easier said than done. As much as he liked making a mess of himself, he hated getting it cleaned up all the more. He fussed and fought to get away from me pretty damn hard. "Jesus Christ, hold still!" I tightened my grip on him and managed to finish getting him cleaned up. "Were you looking for me to drop you?"

Cooper reached up and smacked my mouth with his hand. I bit at it gently and he laughed and then smacked me again. "Silly boy."

Jeff and I ended up dropping Cooper off at Tammy's house so we could go off somewhere by ourselves. I had no idea where I even felt like going, so when Jeff kept asking I just ignored him. Eventually he quit asking and I could tell that my lack of response didn't really set too well with him. Instead of doing anything about it though I just drove around aimlessly until we got out to the desert. Then I stopped the car and shut it off.

"James?" Jeff gave me a very wary look. "What are we doing out here?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." It was an honest answer. I had no idea what we were really doing out here. It just…I just had to fucking get away. My skin felt like it was crawling and my chest was tight from anxiety. Breathe. I had to breathe. I took a deep breath. It wasn't helping. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was out of the house I could fucking relax. But I would have to go back eventually. Maybe that was it. That was the crux of my fucking problem. I would have to fucking go back and I couldn't take it anymore. Every time I went to sleep now at night, it occurred to me that no real victory had been gained from offing Caroline. While not there physically, she was still alive inside my head and I could hear ever single fucking thing she ever said to me over and over and over again. It was a fucking nightmare and I HAD to get out of that stupid house. Being there just was making it worse. It would get better once I was gone for good. It fucking HAD to.

Jeff

I felt beyond uncomfortable at the moment. Something had clearly snapped inside of James and every time I even tried to get a little something out of him he snapped at me. I don't think he even realized he was doing it. Maybe he thought he was replying to me normally but he wasn't. He was doing far, far from it. And it threw me off because I wasn't even sure how to even try to figure out what was wrong with him. It wasn't my nature to push an issue when it needed to be pushed.

James suddenly got out of the car and I winced as he slammed the car door shut hard. He walked ahead several feet, his hands digging into his pockets and pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. I watched him stick the cigarette into his mouth and struggle with even trying to get it lit. When it didn't seem like he would ever get it I got out of the car and went over to him. "Here, let me…" I cautiously took it from him and got it lit the first time. "There you go."

He nodded at me and started sucking on that cigarette like there was no tomorrow. "James what is it?" I asked, trying to just not let it go. He was starting to freak me out by the way he was acting. "What's the matter?"

He didn't answer me for a pretty long time. He just smoked his cigarette and actually got out another one and smoked it for a bit before finally talking to me. "Have you ever felt like there's just like…no escape? Like you try to make a change but at the end of the day you're still stuck where you were before?"

I tried to answer him but he started pacing around and I ended up shutting my mouth to let him keep going on. "It's fucking just…it's fucking BULLSHIT! She's gone she's fucking gone-"

"Who's gone?" I asked, my curiosity making me interrupt.

"She won't leave me be-"

I suddenly got it. I had heard this before from him but this time he was just really freaking me out with it. "James, Caroline is gone, remember? She left, you said she left for good."

"…I killed her." The words escaped him and it wasn't until two seconds later that he realized he actually admitted that out loud.

"You…you what?" I blinked, not even sure how to react. He had told me she was gone for good but that hadn't meant I thought it meant THAT. I always thought it just meant she had taken off on them. My cousin Brad's mom did it. That shit happened. But this…this was something else entirely.

James

Shit. Why the fuck had I said that out loud for? I hadn't actually planned on ever telling him that. He had accepted me saying Caroline was gone and just leaving it at that. _Stupid stupid stupid stupid_…how the hell did I even forget that he didn't know the truth about that situation? I really was going out of my mind.

"I had to." I couldn't just not say anything now. "She wouldn't stop she wouldn't…she killed my baby I just lost it." I wasn't lying. She did do that and I really did lose it then. I was just leaving out the part where I kept her locked down in Mark's basement for a few days before she finally died. That just didn't really sound that good. Of course, that was a part of a long list of things that didn't sound good for me. It wasn't really that great of me to have THIS much shit to hide from Jeff. But could I tell him the truth without sending him running for the hills. That was the thing. I didn't want to lose him. He was about all I had. Mark and I had the ability to turn toxic when we were together and Annabelle really didn't want to be with me since it was wrong or whatever. Jeff was what I had and I wasn't sure if he could handle the big elephant in the room I was trying to hide.

"James…" Jeff grabbed my wrist and made me realize I had started clawing at the scar on my neck. Fucking hell. I couldn't tell if I was bleeding or not but either way, I wasn't too worried about it. I had other things on my mind, my rising bloodlust being the main one. One good kill would put me back on the driver's seat but unfortunately, I couldn't do it. I had Jeff with me. So I had to resort to something else. Something that would sufficiently distract me for a good length of time.

Jeff said my name yet again but I ignored him. Instead I went back to the car, balling up my fists as I went. Without thinking I smashed it against the car window as hard as I could. I cracked the glass but it didn't break all the way. The same could not be said for my hand. A horrible pain shot through it and I quickly held it close to me, biting down on my tongue so hard to repress the yelp of pain that I made myself bleed.


	42. Burn

Annabelle

I followed Dave into the hospital while adjusting Cooper on my hip and trying to repress the shudder that was going through me. I hated hospitals. Absolutely hated them. I couldn't really pinpoint an exact reason why I hated them so much. It wasn't like I had ever spent an extended amount of time in one. There were plenty of times that I've _needed_ to go (thanks to Mom and Dad kicking the ever living hell out of me) but didn't. Just something about them irked me majorly. And I knew damn well James felt the same way, so for him to be here himself was pretty amazing. He either must have really hurt himself or he just agreed to go so Jeff would get off his case. Knowing him the way I did, the latter seemed a lot more likely.

"Excuse me?" Dave got the nurse at the receptionist's desk attention since my people phobia left this huge lump in my throat and totally prevented me from speaking. "Can you tell us what room James Lawson is in?"

The nurse looked up at us, seemingly annoyed that we took her attention away from whatever it was she was working on. "Are you family?" she asked curtly. Her dull green eyes were narrowed, looking at Dave suspiciously before drifting over to me and Cooper. I wilted under her glare while Cooper remained oblivious to her. He was staring at a couple of kids playing with some blocks over in the waiting area. "Ma!" He smacked my arm to get my attention before reaching towards the blocks and trying to wiggle away.

"No sweetheart," I said gently, trying to tighten my grip on him without hurting him. "No playing right now."

"YES!" Cooper tried even harder to get away and without even being asked to Dave took him out of my arms because he could keep a much better grip on him much easier than I could.

"Yes we're family," he informed the nurse, his tone getting even more curt than hers had been. My eyes were on everywhere but her because making eye contact with her filled me with dread I couldn't even begin to describe. Lots of people said I was way WAY too meek and shit but I couldn't help it. It was embedded into my brain to be that way. I was beaten into submission as a small child and it was doubtful I would ever leave it.

I could feel the nurse staring at us critically and I knew Dave continued with his own glaring before she finally gave us the information we needed. "Room 206. Go up the elevator and it's the third door on the left."

"Thank you." That sounded awfully like "fuck you bitch" but we didn't stick around to find out if she caught that or not. Instead Dave grabbed my hand and led me to the elevator, raising his eyebrow at the audible sigh of relief I let out once the doors closed behind us. "Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded and took Cooper back from him. Holding Cooper helped my nerves somewhat because not only did he provide comfort in his baby way, but he was usually mischievous enough to help take my mind off my panic.

"Are you sure?" Dave smoothed down my hair and shook his head. "Jesus Belle. You're fucking shaking right now."

My response to that was just to hold on to Cooper more tightly to try to put a stop to that. It worked to a degree though I was still somewhat jittery.

"This place isn't that bad." Dave didn't get it. He was a sweetheart that tried but oh how he didn't get it. He would never get it. There was no way he ever could. "Don't let that bitch get to you. I know for a fact she's a cunt to everyone."

I just nodded along, spared from having to say anything by the elevator doors opening back up. I followed Dave out into the hallway and to James's room, trying my best to just breathe through my mouth so I wouldn't have to smell the icky hospital smell that always made me sick to my stomach. Cooper was looking all around with big wide eyes. Besides from the day he was born, he hadn't been here and I was hoping to keep it that way as much as possible.

"Knock knock," Dave said in lieu of actually knocking. He opened the door and let Cooper and me in first and I sighed as my eyes went to James and the cast that was now on his hand.

"Da Da!" Cooper was fighting to get to James and I went over to the bed so I could hold him while he hugged James's neck.

"I've got him," James said, easily taking Cooper into the arm that didn't have the broken hand.

"Are you sure?" I wasn't even going to ask if he was okay. I already knew that he wasn't. I wasn't going to try to pull whatever was bothering him out of him with Jeff and Dave in the room. Just by the look on his face I knew this was going to be something that we were going to have to discuss in private.

He nodded silently and nuzzled his face against Cooper's, who laughed and grabbed on to James's hair so he could pull it. I almost tried to get Cooper to let go but stopped when James laughed and rubbed his nose against his.

"You're silly." James laughed as Cooper grabbed his nose. "Real silly." He started nomming on Cooper's fingers and Cooper squealed in delight.

"What exactly happened?" Dave asked. He was standing near Jeff and studying James pretty closely.

"I broke my hand," James replied. He clearly did not like the way Dave was looking at him.

"Well I can see THAT. I meant how did it happen."

"He punched the car window," Jeff said before James could let out some sort of nasty reply.

"Why?" Dave pressed on.

"None of your fucking business," James growled.

I gave him a look because I knew from his tone he was majorly tempted to get up and smash his fist into Dave's face. For whatever reason he still violently disliked Dave and there seemed to be nothing that could be done to change that. I had tried to talk to him a couple of times about it but he stonewalled on me and I had just dropped the subject every time.

Several minutes passed and it was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable silences I had ever been a part of. James was clearly still bothered by something even though he was trying to hide it by playing with Cooper. Jeff clearly had no idea what was wrong and there seemed to be something else bothering him too. Dave was trying to hide how much he didn't care to be there (he disliked James only as much as James did him) and I was trying to figre out whether I should try to get Dave and Jeff to leave so I could talk to James alone. I shifted from foot to foot, the minutes that went by feeling like hours. I wanted to break the silence but I couldn't. I didn't know what the hell to say.

"Well I've had enough of this shit," James finally said. He got up to his feet, still keeping Cooper in his arms. "I'm getting out of here."

"I don't think you're supposed to leave," Jeff pointed out. "Not until the doctor-"

"Fuck that mother fucker," James interrupted. "I'm not waiting for him." He kissed the side of Cooper's head and walked right out the door, leaving the rest of us just standing there. Dave looked to Jeff to try to find out what the hell that was all about but Jeff seemed lost in his own world. I let out a long sigh and ran my hand through my hair. Whatever was going on with James clearly wasn't good and I had a feeling if something wasn't done soon it would only get worse than it already was.

…

Jeff

It's been two weeks since James broke his hand and he's got us all packing up our stuff to move the hell out of here. He got us a house to move in, courtesy of Likansuk Porn (apparently the family enterprise does have its advantages even though he hates it). He hasn't been talking a whole bunch lately, which is completely unusual for him. He's been a bit better since finding the house but not really himself. Annabelle said it was this house that was doing this shit to him. There's too many bad memories here. Every time he turns around there's nasty memories everywhere and he can't escape them. Getting out of here is the best thing for him and even though she hasn't said it to me, I'm pretty sure Annabelle feels the same way. And I can't blame them at all. If I was them, I would want to get the hell out of here too.

"So are you going to put this place up on the market or whatever?" I asked James. We were packing up our stuff in his room. Annabelle was in her room packing, Dave and Mark were getting stuff in the living room and kitchen packed up and Glenn was watching over Cooper.

James shook his head. "Not even going to bother with that. I've got a better idea for it."

"What?"

I didn't get an answer to that one. I stared at him for a few minutes, silently trying to will one out of him. When that didn't work I sighed and went back to packing. Deep down, I knew it wasn't just the mindfucks that were getting to him. He had been more careful about what he said to me ever since he confessed to killing Caroline. That clearly hadn't been what he meant to do and now he watched his words so carefully it was just completely and totally obvious. It was actually a pretty sucky feeling, to know your own boyfriend was constantly on guard around you now. Like okay, killing your mother really wasn't a good thing. And most people would freak about that. But I wasn't going to do it. I couldn't ever do that to him. I knew how she hurt him and stuff and I knew damn well what it was like to be so badly hurt by someone to want them dead for doing their crazy shit to you. Quite honestly, there's a part of me that wished I would have been able to kill Matt for all the things he had done to me. Maybe that was terrible of me but considering the hell he put me through, it was a well warranted thought.

"How soon can we move into the new house?" Might as well try another question.

"Any time we want," James replied. "Which hopefully means tonight."

I nodded along and once we finished packing our stuff we went out and helped get the rest of the stuff. Once that was all done I thought maybe we would stop to eat but that wasn't the case. Annabelle ended up on Cooper duty while Glenn, Dave and I started loading boxes into the car while James and Mark worked on getting beds into Mark's truck. Or at least I hoped it was Mark's truck. He claimed earlier that he bought it the other day but then Glenn gave him this look as he said that, so just that left me to believe that story wasn't completely on the level. Not surprising, knowing what I did about Mark. Hopefully he really didn't steal it, just because I don't think James is going to want to be bailing him out of jail tonight. His mood would shift to even more badness if it came to that.

"Why do I have to walk backwards down these fucking things?" Mark asked as he and James carried one of the bed's down the stairs. He had been complaining quite loudly while they had been carrying Cooper's crib down the stairs but James hadn't really acknowledged him. Unfortunately, he didn't take it as a cue to just shut up. He just started complaining even more loudly. "This is fucking hard Lawson. Why can't you walk backwards? I'm going to fall and bust my head-"

"Oh goody, maybe you'll be quiet then," James said.

Mark gave him a dirty look. "You know, I don't _have_ to help you."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh Jesus Christ Mark, would you just stop? You're being a big baby."

Mark glared at him for a moment before intentionally dropping the mattress just as James was about to take another step. James immediately lost his balance and fell forwards, falling right into Mark and sending them both crashing down the stairs.

"Jesus Christ!" Glenn yelled while my eyes just about popped out of my head and Annabelle slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Fucking Christ Mark!" James elbowed Mark really hard in the ribs as he got up to his feet. "What the hell was that about?"

"I was trying to prove a point," Mark replied. He got up to his feet and winced. "Didn't really work."

James rolled his eyes. "Prove a point my ass. You just like being an idiot."

"Oh fuck you Lawson, I-"

Glenn, Annabelle and I looked at each other as James and Mark started arguing right before our very eyes. For a split second we thought about breaking it up but then we decided it wasn't worth it and went back to what we had been doing before. They would stop on their own…eventually…I hoped.

…

James

We were moved out completely and most of the way set up in our new place by the next night. Mark, Glenn and Dave all hung around, helping get us set up before staying to watch some movies Jeff had rented on his way back from school. They were all ones I've actually seen before but that was okay. It gave me the perfect excuse to tell them to start the movie without me. I told them I would put Cooper to bed and I did, but then afterwards I went into my room and snuck out the window and was off before anyone realized I had flown the coop.

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets as I walked, barely glancing around at my surroundings as I made my way through the streets. The new house was a lot nicer than our old one and the neighborhood was nicer too. Lots of families with kids and shit. Good for Cooper to grow up in. Annabelle likes it and it's closer to Evan's and Shannon's houses so Jeff likes it too. Me…me I'm not so sure. I want to like it. I really really do. But it's hard. All around me are these happy little families with the mommies and daddies and the kiddies that have absolutely no idea how lucky they are. Their daddies aren't bullies and piece of shit rapists and their mothers aren't looking to make their lives a living hell because they weren't worth being born. No, they have fucking perfect little worlds and even now, even being out of the hell hole I grew up in, the binds that kept me there were still strong as ever. I had an epiphany that I hated but it was so true I knew there was no escape. It didn't matter that I killed Caroline and she couldn't continue to hurt me in new ways. She won the war against me long ago and I could pretend to move on and get over it and all that but I never truly would. Deep down, I still wanted her love and approval, even if there were none to give. And the fact that I couldn't attain it would forever haunt me. There would be no absolution. There would be no escape. This new life was not an exit. It was nothing.

I got back to the old house and just stared at it for a long time, memories whirling around and around in my head and driving me to walk to the garage and get the gas can I had purposefully left behind during the move. I went into the house and started pouring the gasoline all around, making sure every place I could get to was covered in it. I eventually made a trail out of the house and put down the empty gas can so I could get out a book of matches. I stared at the house for awhile more, shaking my head before lighting one of the matches and dropping it into the trail of gasoline. The fire spread quickly and soon engulfed the whole house while I stood there and just watched it burn.


	43. Watchful Eyes

Dave

I shifted around on the couch, trying not to disturb Annabelle and Cooper while making it seem like I was actually paying attention to the television. What I was really doing though was keeping an eye on James. While he wasn't acting quite as obviously funky as he was before, something was still really off about him. Annabelle and Jeff were trying to act like nothing was wrong but earlier today I had overheard them talking about the fact that James was sneaking out at night and not coming back until almost sunrise. Annabelle did her best to assure Jeff that sometimes James just liked to go walk around at night because he found it peaceful but I had caught a look at her eyes through the crack of the doorway and I knew right then that she had been lying. Whatever James was doing, it wasn't just walking around to get some peace. There was much more to the story than that and I was going to find out what it was.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched James prop his feet up on the coffee table and try not to look bored out of his mind for Jeff's sake, who seemed to be enjoying what they were watching. What was it anyway? I had no idea. I hadn't been paying attention. I was more focused on James, who was now looking at the beer bottle that was dangling loosely in his hand. "I need another drink," he announced. He pushed himself up off the chair and left the room. I waited a few minutes before getting up myself, which got me a questioning look from Belle.

"Bathroom," I said, letting her nod before leaving the room myself. I didn't actually get very far. James was waiting for me, his eyes narrowed with anger as I stopped right in front of him.

"You know, if you've got something to say to me, why don't you just do it already?"

I straightened myself up at his harsh tone, knowing I was caught. "Who said I actually have anything to say?"

"You're watching me." His hands were clenching and unclenching rapidly and he was scowling quite angrily at me.

"So?" I knew I was pissing him off with my indifference but I didn't give a shit. "It's a free country. I can watch who I want."

James's lips twitched and he stepped forward, getting right in my face. He had a few inches on me height wise but I wasn't intimidated. I was big enough where he couldn't physically intimidate me like he could most other people. "You think you're cute huh?" He shook his head, his lips curling into an even more angry scowl. "Listen Davey Boy," he growled, poking my chest hard with one of his fingers "if you've got a problem with me, just say it now and get it over with. Don't play any fucking games with me."

"I'm not trying to play games with you," I said cooly. "I just think it's a good idea to keep an eye on the guy who's acting like a wild dog trying to get off his leash." I started to walk away when he grabbed my arm and spun me back around.

"And I think you should mind your own business, you stupid oaf." If looks could kill I would have dropped dead on the spot. "Just because you're with Belle doesn't mean I fucking like you. I've never fucking liked you."

"Believe me, the feelings more than mutual," I assured him. "I only put up with you because you're Belle's brother and Jeff loves you for whatever reason-I personally don't see anything redeeming about you-"

"And THAT feeling is more than fucking mutual." I could tell by the look in his eyes that I had hit a nerve. "You fucking don't know shit about me. Don't fucking think just cuz you're hanging around my sister than you know a fucking thing about me. Hell, don't even think that you know anything about _her_. Because you fucking _don't._" He gave me one last angry glare before storming off, slamming a door shut so hard the windows rattled.

…

James

"Your boyfriend is fucking getting on my last fucking nerve," I told Annabelle later that night. I had cornered her in the kitchen when she was trying to make dinner and she about jumped a foot in the air because she wasn't expecting me.

"What?" She shook her head and tried to regain her composure.

"Your boyfriend is fucking getting on my last fucking nerve," I repeated.

"Why? What happened?"

"He was fucking watching me earlier."

She looked even more confused now. "What are you talking about?"

"Earlier when we were watching TV he was fucking watching me like I was a rabid fucking dog that was going to bite at any second. And then when I fucking call him out about it, he acts like a self righteous fucking oaf who's entitled to do whatever the fuck he wants."

My yelling was making her shrink back and dinner was being abandoned so she could start compulsively wringing her hands together. "I can talk to him?" she said so meekly that the statement actually came out as a question.

"I'd rather fucking just have him out-"

"James."

"What? He doesn't fucking belong here anyway. Fucking bastard."

"You're just mad right now."

"You're fucking right I'm mad. This is MY house. Who bought this house? ME. And that little cocksucker thinks he can walk in and stare at me like I'm the bad guy? He's got another thing coming."

"James please, I'll talk to him, okay?" Annabelle finally took the pan off the hot burner so dinner wouldn't be completely ruined. "I'll talk to him. Just please-"

"And what are you going to do when he accuses you of just defending me because I'm your brother?" I knew I should just stop. I wasn't angry at her but I was too much on a roll to reel myself in. "Are you gonna tell him he's just being a paranoid jackass? Or are you going to crumble and drop the subject like you always do?"

She looked down at her feet and shook her head, biting down on her lower lip instead of answering me. I let out a long sigh, now feeling like shit for not being able to keep my fucking dumb mouth shut. "I'm sorry," I said, taking a step towards her but stopping when she took a step back. She wasn't even looking at me. She just mumbled something and took off, leaving me to smack the counter in frustration before taking off through the back door. Maybe a nice bloody kill would help me get this frustration out and make me feel a bit better.

…

The kill that night failed to sate me, as did the one the night after that. The bloodshed that once worked so well was now turning against me. The power and control murder gave me wasn't enough anymore. There was still this giant hole inside of me that was just not getting filled. Being around Jeff made it a little bit better. I was less antsy around him, especially when we were alone and not dealing with any of his friends. But the thing was, I was beginning to notice that there was something missing in our relationship. I didn't know what it was at first. He loved me, he needed me, it should have been fine…it wasn't until I woke up from a Caroline and the hanger nightmare that I realized what it was. He relied on me to always be the strong one. When I woke up screaming and in a cold sweat he looked scared to death of me like that. I was the one taking care of him yet here I was, obviously falling apart at the seams yet it felt like he was doing nothing about it. Either he really wasn't noticing how fucked I was mentally and emotionally or he was trying to ignore it because he didn't think he could do anything about it. And it fucked with my head even more. So once more I found myself on the hunt, even though deep down, I knew it wasn't going to help. Only this time, I could feel myself being watched. At first I told myself I was being paranoid but then I looked back and managed to see someone diving into a bush when I did. Yeah, I was being followed. Great. That was just fucking fantastic. Part of me wanted to turn right around and storm over to that bush so I could grab them and see who they were. But then it occurred to me that they might run and since I wasn't in the mood for a chase, I decided to keep going and let them follow me a bit further.

I walked for what felt like forever, passing up several good kills in favor of ducking into a dark alley and quickly climbing up the fire escape ladder to the building next to me, hiding in the darkness the emergency door provided me. I waited there to see if they would follow me there and they did not disappoint. I was expecting Dave quite frankly so I was kind of surprised when it turned out to be Shannon and Phil. I could hear them talking quietly amongst themselves but I wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying. It didn't really matter though. The fact that they were following me was enough to tell me that I was either going to have to get Jeff to keep a leash on his friends or do it myself.


	44. Confrontation

Jeff

"Do you regret having him so young?" Annabelle and I were sitting out on the porch eating ice cream while Cooper sat at our feet and played with his toys. We had been sitting out there for awhile, chatting about little stuff. I hadn't meant to bring the subject of Cooper the way I did but the way he was babbling on caught my attention and it made me curious.

"Kind of," she admitted. She reached down and picked him up so she could put him on her lap. "I mean, I love him more than life itself but I wasn't really ready to be a mom. And I wish it wasn't with…well you know…"

"Mark?" I shook my head as she nodded. "If it's any consolation you two made a pretty cute kid.

She gave me the briefest of smiles before kissing the side of Cooper's head. Her eyes were looking out towards the street, watching James's car pull up into the driveway. "Look who it is Cooper," she said, letting out a fake gasp and pointing at it so Cooper would look too. "Who is that? Who is it?"

"Da Da Da!" Cooper yelled, waving his arms around as James and Mark got out of the car. "Da Da DA!"

James immediately smiled and pushed Mark out of the way so he would get up the porch stairs first. "Heya buddy." He took Cooper from Belle and hugged him tightly against his chest. "Did you miss me? I sure missed you. Yes I did I missed you a whole bunch." He kissed the top of Cooper's head, totally ignoring the way Mark rolled his eyes at him. "You feed him yet Belle?"

She shook her head. "I was going to-"

"I got it. Just stay put." He looked over at me and jerked his head towards the house. "Come with me. I gotta talk to you about something."

I nodded and got up and followed him into the house, leaving Mark and Annabelle alone outside. "What is it?" I asked.

He didn't answer me right away. He was too busy cooing and making baby talk with Cooper as he got his food and got him set up in the high chair. Knowing I wouldn't get anywhere with him during this, I waited until he actually started to feed Cooper before asking again. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Your friends," he replied, glancing at me real quick before returning his attention back to Cooper. "I went out for a walk last night and I caught Shannon and Phil following me."

"Following you?" I repeated in disbelief.

"Mhm."

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't tell you that if I wasn't. They were fucking following me. And Dave's been acting like a total dickface too. He was pulling that shit yesterday in my own fucking house. Really did NOT appreciate it."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what they're doing."

"Could you get them to knock it the fuck off? They might listen to you. I tried talking to Dave yesterday but that was a failure of epic proportions."

I nodded my head. "Okay." I had no idea what to even say but I kept nodding my head anyway. I didn't understand what was up with everyone. I mean, with Phil I did given what he told me but Shannon and Dave? My mind drifted back to the whole James killed a guy thing that Shannon tried to sell me on awhile back. Was that what this was all about? Was he still convinced that was the case even though I told him it wasn't? Had he gotten Dave and Phil on it too? Or was it about something else entirely? Whatever it was, I was sure as hell going to get to the bottom of it.

…

James

"You sure telling Jeff to talk to them was a good idea?" Mark asked me after Jeff had left to go find his friends. Annabelle had taken Cooper upstairs for his nap, leaving me and Mark alone to talk in the kitchen. "Because it sounds like a fucking disaster to me."

"Well what else did you want me to do?" I asked. "You didn't have any better suggestions on our way here."

"Yes I did."

"No you didn't. Killing them all is not an option. They're Jeff's friends, not a bunch of homeless idiots nobody's gonna miss. I'm trying to keep him from finding out I'm a killer, not give him evidence to think it."

"But what do you think _they_ are going to do?" Mark countered. He leaned back against the counter and shook his head at me. "They clearly want your head on a stick. You really think sending the boy to talk to them alone is gonna do any good?"

I didn't answer that because he had too good of a point. In retrospect maybe having Jeff talk to them wasn't the best idea but what else was I supposed to do? Me dealing with them would be a disaster. What I needed was for Jeff to defend me hard enough to them to get them to back the hell off me. I couldn't keep having this shit happen. If they were watching me I couldn't hunt and if I couldn't hunt that just wasn't good at all. I needed to do it. Like a junkie that needed his fix I needed to do it. Nobody else understood that. Mark came the closest but he really didn't get it. He didn't need it like I did. For me, not doing it meant losing the sense of control that I so desperately needed. I was in the midst of rebuilding my life. I didn't need this shit at all right now.

"I don't know why you think you can keep hiding this from him," Mark said, snapping me out of my thoughts for the moment. "Not with the way you do it. I mean, if it was just a few kills here and there it'd be real easy to keep it a secret."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You're doing it too much. I'm not saying this out of a moral sense. I'm just being reasonable. You're feeing that bloodlust of yours too often and it IS gonna catch up with you one way or another. If you stopped now it might not but otherwise you might have to consider the possibility that you will have to TELL Jeff about what you really are."

"Oh yeah, that's such a smart idea. And then we can all watch how fast he runs away from me screaming."

"You said he knows that you've killed before-"

"But not "INNOCENT" people. The ones he knows about are justifiable. He'll leave me if he finds out the truth."

"Well…yeah alright, he might. But how good of a relationship is this if you have to hide who you really are?"

"You're talking to me about relationships? You of all people are doing this?"

"Yeah well, I'm at least honest about who and what I am. That's a lot more than what I can say about you."

"Oh fuck you Marky."

…

Jeff

I texted Phil, Dave and Shannon and got them to meet me over at Shannon's place. I didn't tell them what I wanted but they seemed to start figuring out when they realized I had called them all there. "What are you guys doing?" I asked as they sat there on the couch, just waiting for me to say something.

"Uhhh…sitting here?" Shannon said with a shrug. He was trying to look as innocent as possible but I really wasn't buying it. And he knew I wasn't buying it and it made him try even harder.

"You called us here Jeffro," Dave reminded me. "You're going to have to tell us what this is all about."

"Fine, I will." I put my hands on my hips and glared at them all. "Why are you guys following James around?"

They all exchanged looks. They didn't exactly look surprised that I was calling them out about it, though Shannon and Phil definitely looked nervous. "We um…we were just uh…uh…." Shannon looked at Phil and Dave for help.

"Look, we think your boyfriend might be a murderer," Dave said bluntly. The brash way he was just saying it threw me, Phil and Shannon all off guard. "And we were trying to figure out if there was any proof to that."

"Uh…why the fuck did you just _admit_ that?" Phil hissed at him.

"Are you kidding me?" I said in disbelief. I shook my head as they didn't answer. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Jeff-"

"No!" I said nastily, cutting Dave right off. "What the fuck is your guys's problem?"

"Shannon told us what he saw the night of the Halloween party," Dave told me. "And-"

"And you believed him? He was drunk-"

"I'm still sure I saw what I think I saw," Shannon said, giving me an apologetic look as I glared at him. "I mean, my gut tells me-"

"Your gut is an idiot," I snapped.

"Or maybe his gut is right," Dave said. "Look, I've known him longer than you have-"

"But I know him better."

"You know him in a completely biased way."

"And you're not being biased? You're dating his sister and you know he really didn't like you to begin with. I think you're projecting."

"And I think he's got you completely blinded."

"You don't have proof."

"I know he carries a knife on him."

"A lot of people do."

"A butcher knife? If it was a pocket knife then yeah, but we're talking slasher film weapon here."

"You just need to stop," I told him. "Please, just stop. For my sake, just stop."

"Why? If we're right, this is shit that NEEDS to be known."

"But you're wrong."

"You don't know that for sure."

"Would you just STOP?" I was getting so mad I was ready to just punch him right in the face. "You have NO proof."

"That's what we're trying to get."

"There's none to get!"

"You don't know that either. And you're lucky Shannon came to US instead of the cops. They would be a lot less nice about this than we are."

I shook my head. I couldn't deal with this anymore. I turned around and stormed out, slamming the door shut as hard as I could behind me. I couldn't even believe them. This whole thing was absolutely ridiculous. I was actually hoping that this would be some kind of bad stupid joke but that didn't seem to be the case. They really believed what they were saying. Now I had to somehow convince them they were wrong. I just had to figure out how.


	45. Caught

Jeff

It took me a few days but I finally managed to figure out how I could prove to Dave, Phil and Shannon that they had the wrong idea about James. I decided to wait until James went out again at night and I would follow him with a camera so I could document everything he did. Hell, I would do it for a few nights just to make sure I had enough proof to show them that they were wrong. I knew I was better at following people than they were. Shannon absolutely sucked at being sneaky, Dave was an oaf (I loved him to deaf but even I couldn't deny that) and if Phil had possessed any sneaking around skills he lost them when he began this crusade with Dave and Phil. I on the other hand, knew I could be discreet enough to get away with it. It wasn't like I was out to prove that James was something he wasn't. I just wanted to prove his innocence. That was all.

It didn't take long for me to get a chance to put this plan into effect. Later that night was when James took off again, thinking that I was fast asleep. I wasn't though. Not in the slightest bit. As soon as I heard him leave I was out of bed and slipping my shoes off, making sure to grab my camera before taking off after him. My heart was starting to beat faster inside of my chest but I made myself take a deep breath to try to relax. There was nothing to be nervous about. Everyone had gotten all worked up over some stupid misunderstanding and I was going to put the matter to rest. That was all.

James

My hands were shoved deep into my pockets, one hand clamped around my knife as I made my way down the empty street. My bloodlust had reared its head once again and once again it felt stronger than it ever should have. What was the matter with me? Why couldn't I find any peace? Everywhere I went, there was this itching under my skin and murder sated it, but only for a short while. I really needed to come up with a better long term solution but I just didn't know how. Maybe I needed therapy but that was the last thing I wanted to go through quite frankly. I didn't want to sit on some bastard's couch and tell them about my fucked up childhood. Not only would they tell me that was the roof of my problem (which I had figured out all on my lonesome) but they would tell me some kind of bullshit about needing to forgive my parents to be able to move on. That kind of bullshit advice was easy for people who hadn't lived through the shit I did. I hadn't even told Jeff about half the things that had happened to me or the shit I saw going on around me. He knew the general stuff but there was some stuff that I didn't even feel comfortable sharing with him. The only person who knew everything was Belle, and that was because she had lived it right along side me.

I made myself move faster, trying to escape all the thoughts swirling around in my head. There was a voice in the back of my head telling me this wasn't a good idea. Not right now, with fucking Dave, Phil and Shannon out to get me. I ignore that little voice of reason though and kept right on going. What can I say? I couldn't just be intelligent and lay low for awhile. It wasn't in me. I had to do this and I was going to do it and if they were following me then well, I would take care of them the only way I really knew how. And they wouldn't ever be found. For all Jeff would know, they ran away for whatever reason and that would just be that.

I ducked into an alley and found a homeless guy sleeping near an empty cardboard box. I swooped in without hesitation, throwing any kind of rational thought process right out the window. I drove the knife down into his stomach, watching his eyes pop open before yanking the knife out and driving it down into his neck. The satisfaction of watching his life leave his eyes only lasted a few seconds…and then there was nothing. I was just empty once again. "Shit." I pulled the knife out one more time and just stayed in my spot, looking down at the mess I made and trying to reclaim the feeling of peace. The feeling of control. There was still nothing though. Not a single fucking thing. "Fuck fuck fuck!" I began to look around for a place to dispose of the body when I saw a figure standing nearby from the corner of my eye. I immediately turned around, raising my knife and getting ready to strike-only to see it was Jeff that was staring at me with a look of pure horror on his face.

My knife nearly slipped out of my hand as I stared back at him with a dropped jaw. Neither of us moved a muscle for the longest time. He looked like he had just had a heart attack or something and I didn't know what the fuck to do. Everything Mark and Belle had ever said to me about me not being able to hide the truth forever was coming back to haunt me. I knew they had been right, even if I hadn't wanted to admit it. Now look what had happened. I had only really considered one of the others following me that I hadn't realized Jeff had done it and actually caught me in the act. _Fucking smooth move Lawson. Now what the fuck are you going to do?_

We continued to stare at each other, still not moving. Finally it occurred to me that I was going to have to make the first move or we would be standing there for forever. "Jeff-"

The instant I took a step towards him it broke him out of his trance. He dropped the camera he had been holding and took off running, making James curse and start to chase after him when he remembered he still had a body to get rid of. "Fuck!" he went back and grabbed the body, dragging it over it over to the nearest manhole, taking off the cover before shoving the body down there. That would have to be good enough for now. I had to catch Jeff before he ended up doing something that would fuck me more than I already was.


	46. Stay Away From Me

Jeff

I honestly didn't even know how I made it back home. I just remember running as fast as I could, willing myself to believe the shit I had just seen was a dream. It wasn't real. Couldn't be real. It had to be some sort of horrible dream. It wasn't though. It was real. I had just witnessed my boyfriend murdering someone in cold blood. Shannon and the others tried to tell me but I hadn't listened. I hadn't wanted to hear it. I had been convinced that they were wrong. There was no way it could be. Not James. Not my James. But it was true. I had seen for myself that they were right. And now I had no idea what to do about it.

"Jeff?" I barely heard Annabelle's voice as she approached me with Cooper in her arms. "Jeff are you okay?"

I didn't answer her. I just leaned back against the wall and stared at the floor. Annabelle said my name again but I still barely even heard her. She sounded worried. Was she worried? Probably. She was Annabelle she worried a lot. Cooper was cooing and babbling too. At least I thought he was. It was so hard to tell. Everything sounded muffled, like it was far away from me or there was cotton stuffed deep inside my ears.

"Jeff!" Annabelle's hand on my shoulder snapped me back into reality. I shook my head and went upstairs, nearly slipping and falling face first as I went. I managed to catch myself though with the help of the railing, and after taking a second to steady myself I went up through the hallway and into the bathroom. I kicked the door shut behind me and dropped to my knees, barely making it to the toilet before I began to gag violently.

…

Annabelle

I blinked in surprise, unsure what to do or make of that. I had clearly missed something, something very important. I needed to find out what it was because Jeff was clearly freaking the fuck out. I started to go upstairs to check on Jeff when Cooper decided to start to fuss and get out of my arms. "Cooper sweetie no." I shook my head and adjusted my grip on him, trying my best not to lose him. "You gotta stay still sweetie I can't-"

The door opened again suddenly, making me jump about a foot in the air from surprise. "Da da da da!" Cooper yelled happily.

"James?" I turned around and saw that James was indeed there. He was gasping for breath and looked almost as freaked out as Jeff. That really worried me. James wasn't one to get spooked too easily. "What the hell is going on? Jeff just came in here and-"

"He saw me kill someone."

I froze as those words left James's mouth. "What? Are you serious you let him see?"

His eyes narrowed at that. "I didn't _let_ him see. He followed me and I didn't realize it."

Oh god. I didn't even know what to say now. This was not good in so many ways. Part of me was angry at James. He should have known this was going to happen. It wasn't like he was with me or Mark anymore, who knew exactly what he was and didn't do anything about it. Mark didn't give a shit about anyone else really and while morally opposed to what he did, I couldn't do anything about it. He was my brother I wouldn't ever turn him in. Cooper and I both relied on him, we couldn't lose him completely. Jeff though, wasn't me or Mark. He was a good kid, one that I didn't think could live with what James was now that he knew. Best case scenario? Jeff kept his mouth shut and just left James. Worst case involved James in jail though I knew full well James would do everything to avoid that-and that in itself worried me too.

"Where is he?" James asked.

"He went upstairs."

He nodded and went up there without another word. I watched him go and kissed Cooper's cheek, deciding to take him into the living room for awhile while things hopefully got worked out up there.

…

James

"Jeff?" I had started to go to my room when I heard him in the bathroom so I knew to knock on that door instead. "Jeff it's me. Can I come in?" No response. Not good. "Jeff?" I knocked again before just grabbing the door handle and letting myself in. Jeff was just getting back up to his feet and he only turned to look at me for a few seconds before quickly dropping his gaze. I opened my mouth to say something but then the words were lost. I had practiced saying all kinds of shit in my head on the way home but now it was all just gone. I could only stare at him dumbly as he turned on the sink and rinsed out his mouth. When he was done he turned to me and I winced as I got a full look at him. He looked like he slipped into some kind of shock. "Jeff I-"

"How could you?" he asked, his voice so faint that I barely heard him.

"Jeff-"

"How could you do that?" His voice got a little strength in it but not much. The way he was looking at me…I hated it. He was looking at me like I had completely betrayed him. "How could you just…DO that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I just do." Not a great answer but I didn't know what else to say.

"You just…you just killed…do you even know who that was?"

I shook my head.

"You killed someone you didn't even know? Why?"

"I don't think there's any explanation that you're going to want to hear."

"I don't want to hear what I want to hear. I want to know the truth. WHY did you do it?"

"Because I need to. Something inside me…it screams for me to do it."

"Well then you IGNORE it-"

"It's NOT that simple," I snapped. "You don't understand. It just…it completely takes me over. I can't fight it."

"But you just took a human life! Someone you didn't even know. Someone who didn't even deserve to die. Don't you feel any…remorse?"

No. I didn't. I wanted to say I did just to appease Jeff but that was a lie I couldn't manage. I completely lacked a conscious when it came to this. My hesitation spoke for itself and Jeff shook his head at me, looking even more hurt and betrayed again.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" He tried to back away from me but nearly ended up falling backwards into the shower instead. "James what the hell…I can't even…I defended you. The others, they all fucking suspected you and I DEFENDED you."

"Jeff-" I took a step towards him but that only served to piss him off. As soon as I got too close he punched me hard in the chest, catching me by surprise. I hadn't actually expected him to get violent.

"I fucking DEFENDED you!" he yelled, hitting me again and again now that he had gotten started. "I fucking DEFENDED you and now you're going to stand there and tell me that it's actually true! It's actually fucking true? What the FUCK is wrong with you?"

"Jeff-" BAM! I got bopped right in the mouth for even trying to speak. I winced at the blow. Didn't hurt too horribly in comparison to other hits I've taken but the surprise of it didn't feel very pleasant. "Jeff!"

He wasn't listening to me. He was too busy ranting and hitting at me with all the strength he could muster. I tried to let him just tire himself out but after getting hit in the face again and getting my lip busted open, I finally just grabbed his wrists mid-swing to make him stop. "JEFF!"

Jeff froze and we stared at each other for the longest time. It was right then that I knew for sure that I was going to lose him, if I hadn't already. We weren't going to get past this. He wasn't going to let us. "Jeff-"

"Let go of me." His voice had quieted down and he was trying his best to yank himself out of my grip.

I let him go and he slipped around me, bailing for the door. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know." He grabbed the doorknob and then stopped, looking back at me with all kinds of emotions swimming behind his eyes. "Just stay away from me." His gaze lingered on me for a few seconds longer before he left, slamming the door shut behind him.


	47. Gone

James

After Jeff left I didn't know what to do with myself. I just stood there for awhile, millions of thoughts swirling around in my head. This was my worst case scenario come to life. This was the reason I hadn't ever told him about what I really was and everything I did. I had been afraid of rejection and it turned out I had every right to fear it. Love was supposed to be blind but it couldn't be blind to everything. Maybe Jeff hadn't officially left me yet but it was coming. The way he had taken off made that clear enough. He was probably thinking about breaking it off right now…among other things.

I ran a hand through my hair and finally forced myself to move, going into the bathroom and locking the door behind me. I leaned back against the door, closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths. I shouldn't have let Jeff go. What if he was turning me into the police? I didn't want to believe that he would do that. I wanted to believe that he just needed to go clear his head. But I couldn't be sure. I had no idea what he would do. What I did know was that if he went running to his friends I was fucked. They had been out to get me this whole time. If they got a hold of him again they would really fuck me over and I would find myself in a cell by the end of the night.

I went over to the sink and rinsed my face off with the coldest water I could stand. I had to do something. Act on something but I felt lost. I wasn't used to this kind of thing. I was used to Mark and Annabelle, who accepted me for who I was-or at least didn't make me feel like complete fucking shit over it. I had wanted Jeff to be it though. I really did care for him. I loved him I did…but this wasn't going to work. Despite me telling myself he just needed time to think, deep down, I knew it was over. We were done. Even if he didn't immediately leave me there was no way we would last now. Jeff was a messed up kid but at heart he was a good one. One with morals and a conscience that I didn't seem to possess. I was a fool thinking that this could work out. Mark and Annabelle had both tried to warn me but I hadn't wanted to listen. Now look at me. I was fucked. Left and fucked. Jesus I couldn't stay here. Even if Jeff didn't call the cops one of the others would. Dave, Shannon, Phil-one of those three would fuck me over. I really couldn't stay here. I had to leave.

Not even stopping to dry my face I left the bathroom and went back to my room. Surprisingly Annabelle hadn't wandered up here to see what was going on. Maybe she had seen Jeff leave and thought I needed some time to myself. Or maybe Cooper was keeping her distracted. Whatever it was, I was glad that she wasn't up here. I didn't want to talk to her. She wouldn't know what to do. I loved her and all but she wasn't any good in these kinds of situations. She would say a bunch of useless stuff, panic and then look at me about what to do. Not what I needed to deal with at the moment.

Once I was in my room I grabbed a bag and started to pack. I had to get the hell out of dodge. I wasn't going to jail. No way. Death sounded better than that shit. I was going to leave a note for Annabelle and Mark, telling them that I was hosed and had to leave for everyone's own good. I would tell them to deny knowing anything and to try not to appear guilty if the cops came knocking (that was for Annabelle in particular). I would get in touch with them once I was somewhere safe and shit hopefully cooled down. Instructions would also be put in to burn the letter-definitely did NOT want it getting into the wrong hands. That wouldn't help my case one little bit.

Once my clothes were packed I scribbled out the note, adding a bunch of apologies in it as I did so. I felt like shit for just leaving like this, though a lot of that was for Cooper's sake. He was a baby he wasn't going to understand where I went or why I had to go. I wanted to stay for him at least but I couldn't. I had to go. I would have to make it up to him somehow, though he was young enough that he wouldn't ever remember all this. He wouldn't like grow up to resent me over it.

With the note written I left it on my desk because I knew Annabelle would be up soon to see what had happened. Then I checked to make sure I had cash in my pocket before climbing out my window. It felt really weird and wrong to be sneaking out of my own house but I didn't see any other way. I didn't want to fight with anyone about what the right thing to do was or get an "I told you so". I just wanted to disappear.

Jeff

My phone constantly vibrated as I walked around, signaling calls and texts from Shannon and Evan but I ignored them. I needed to talk to someone but who could I turn to? Shannon, Phil and Dave were all against James and would objectively tell me what I should do or feel and Evan probably was too by now…I was alone. Fuck.

I collapsed down on a park bench and buried my face in my hands, hot tears leaking from my eyes. This was bad. Very very bad. There had always been rumors about James but this was just beyond anything that I could have ever imagined. Yes I knew that he had killed Matt but that had been different. Matt would have hurt me if he ever got to me again. James had protected me. But the rest of it…it wasn't right. None of it was right. James was a serial killer…I could barely wrap my head around it but I needed to because it was real. This was the reality I was faced with. Question was, what did I do about it?"

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and started trying to mull things over in my head as reasonably as I could. The right and moral thing to do would be turn James into the police. That's what my friends would tell me to do. That would be what about anybody would tell me to do. But I couldn't do it. The thought of it didn't set well with me, no matter how "right" it was. I loved him, I didn't think I could do that. But the fact that I was even thinking like that made me feel guilty. Did not wanting to turn him in make me bad? What he was doing was wrong. It was completely wrong. While Matt had certainly deserved it, the other people that were being hurt by him didn't. I should be thinking of them…someone had to.

I went back and forth between these two arguments, not getting anywhere beyond giving myself a headache. I finally had to stop and just wander around some more, doing my best to just completely clear out my head. Shannon and Evan kept calling me but I kept ignoring them for the time being. No matter what I ultimately decided, I knew I couldn't keep staying with James. I was going to have to go stay with Shannon or Evan until I sorted shit out. I started to just go to one of their houses but then realized that I had nothing of my own. No clothes beyond the ones I was wearing, no possessions, nothing. Shit. I pulled out my phone and stared at it, wondering if I should risk calling the house to see if Annabelle could grab me some stuff and leave it outside so I could take it with me. I would have to grab everything else later, when James wasn't there.

After some hesitation I finally bit the bullet and called her. It rang several times and was about to go to voicemail when it was picked up. "Hello?"

I blinked in surprise. That certainly wasn't Annabelle. "Glenn?"

"Jeff?"

"Why do you have Annabelle's phone?"

"Well…" The tone of his voice told Jeff this wasn't good "she's kind of sobbing her brains out right now."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well-"

"Gimmie that!" Mark said from Glenn's end. There were sounds of a brief struggle, which Mark won. "Lawson's gone," he informed me curtly.

"Gone? Wh-"

"Yeah he's fucking gone-because of YOU!" He spat that out as hatefully as possible before hanging up, leaving me to just stand there, even more unsure of what to think or feel now.


	48. Thoughts

Jeff

It's been two weeks since I've seen or heard from James. He had left his cell phone at home so I couldn't call him on that. I had tried to ask Annabelle or Mark if they heard from him but they weren't saying. Annabelle had sunk into a depressed state once he left and it was hard to get a word out of her at all. As for Mark, it was much safer for me to be away from him than it was to be around him. He blamed me entirely for James leaving so I was just staying away from him. I did try to talk to Glenn but he told me he hadn't heard anything and he seemed the least bothered about James being gone out of the group. I had seen instances of hostility between the two of them but I still wasn't expecting Glenn to look so…_gleeful_ about James being gone. It threw me off and I was avoiding him now for it.

Being around my friends wasn't much better. They all thought that I was much better off now. Evan hadn't said it but Shannon and Phil practically did while Dave just flat out did. It didn't seem to matter to them how I actually felt. As bad as what James did, I did love him. It wasn't as easy for me to just get over everything as they wanted me to.

"Jeff?" Evan said, knocking as he let himself into the room. I was staying at his house since it was clear to me that I wasn't welcome in the Lawson household. Shannon, Dave and Phil had all offered me a place to stay but given how much they were on me about the entire situation, I elected to stay with Evan instead. He didn't bother me about the whole situation, smartly figuring that if and when I wanted to talk about it, I would.

"Hmm?" I was in the guest bedroom, laying on my stomach on the bed. My chin was rested on my left forearm while my other arm was more outstretched, a pencil clasped in my hand with the tip resting on the blank piece of paper. I had been trying to draw but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It used to be the way I relaxed. My escape from the world. Now I couldn't even do it. Fuck.

"You want something to eat?" That was the main thing Evan was getting on me about. He didn't think I was eating enough. And I wasn't really. Nothing tasted good. I would force myself to choke down enough to get by but it wasn't enough. I needed more but I was refusing.

"No," I replied. Of course I said that. Like I would say anything else.

"Too bad." His reply to that caught me off guard. "I brought you a sandwich anyway."

I dropped the pencil and twisted by body around to see that Evan was holding a plate with a sandwich and a can of Coke to go with it. "Oh. Thanks then." I really didn't want it but I wasn't going to just outright refuse it because that was just too rude.

Evan brought it over and handed it to me before plopping down on the beanbag chair across from me instead of just leaving like I thought he would. He was actually going to make sure I ate instead of just trying to figure out a way to get rid of it. Crap. He knew me too well. Sighing I picked up the sandwich and started to eat it even though I wasn't hungry. Maybe if I appeased him now he would leave me alone during dinner. "Is it good?" he asked.

I nodded to appease him more. It wasn't like it was bad or anything. Peanut butter and banana. Usually one of my favorites but since I wasn't hungry, I wasn't fully enjoying it.

"Shannon called," he told me after a few minutes of watching me eat. "He wanted to talk to you but I told him you were sleeping."

"Thanks," I said, really grateful for that.

"No problem." He gave me a very serious look though. "You can't avoid him forever you know. You'll have to talk to him eventually."

I made a face at that. I knew that. I did. But what could I even say to him? If I tried to argue the way I felt he would try to convince me not to feel that way. Try to force me to get over it. I wasn't ready for that. I couldn't even leave Evan's house. I was scared to go out, especially to school. Being with James had lent me a certain amount of protection from the people who used to target me. They were all scared of him. Now that he was gone though, I was going to be thrown back to the wolves. It wasn't a good feeling. Being with James had allowed me to be safe in a way I hadn't been since my parents had died. Now I didn't even have that. Part of me was actually angry at James for that.

"I know he's not being too sympathetic right now," Evan said, speaking since he had me listening still. "I know Phil and Dave aren't either. But they do have their points."

"And what would those be?"

"That hiding in here won't fix anything." Evan leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "He's not coming back. He got exposed and he knows that even if you don't turn him in, someone else will. The safest thing for him to do is be away-"

"Have they done it yet?" I asked, referring to the others because I knew they were itching for it.

Evan sighed. "Well given that the only eye witness account that's not you is a drunk Shannon-"

"I'm not saying anything," I reminded him. This had caused quite the fight when I told Dave this the other day. "I can't. I can't just throw him in jail I-"

"Even if meant innocent people would be safe?"

My eyes narrowed. "DON'T guilt trip me right now. I had all I could stomach that from Dave. I KNOW I'm wrong okay? I know it. But I…I still love him. I don't want something happen to him. I know I shouldn't because of what he's done but I can't help it." I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair. "I can't help the way I feel. It…it feels wrong to me to do something to him. Even when I should. It's like…I don't know it's like what I saw him do isn't really real. It re-sunk itself out of my brain and now it just feels like a bad dream."

Evan's brow furrowed. "Jeff…denial is NOT a place to be in. You HAVE to come to terms with this."

"And what then?" I asked.

"You move on," he replied.

"What if I don't want to?"

"You really don't have a choice." Evan got up and moved to the bed to sit next to me. "He's _gone_. He left you and now you have to move on. I mean, I get that you love him but he's GONE and NOT coming back. Your world can't come to a stop because of that."

I bit down on my lower lip. I was hearing what he was saying and part of me knew it was true but even with the way he was saying it, I didn't know how to accept it. With James, all the pain I had gone through, all the suffering…there had been a light at the end of the tunnel. Little did I know it was to be another train waiting to hit me.

Evan saw that I was shutting down and chose to pat me on the shoulder before getting up and leaving. He must have figured that I needed time to think, which I did. That was all that I had been doing lately. Thinking. Things racing through my head over and over again. What was I going to do? It didn't feel right to turn him in because I didn't want him in jail. Dave said that was selfish. I didn't know how I could just move on and Phil accused me of being dependent…for friends that were supposed to be there for me they sure had a way of just making me feel like shit at the moment.

I sighed in frustration and put my pillow over my head. I couldn't think about this anymore. I just wanted to sleep and never wake back up.

…

James

After leaving I wandered around aimlessly for a couple of weeks, hiding out in Reno the longest (four days) before driving into California and getting a hotel in Sacramento. I wouldn't be there for long either. I had a plan to go to Los Angeles and then…well I didn't know what then. Maybe I would just pass through or maybe I would stay there for awhile. I hadn't decided yet. I had a prepaid cell phone that I had bought so I could call home and check in, though I had yet to actually do that. Part of me was worried about what risk that could entail if someone had told the cops about me and part of me didn't want to hear Annabelle or Mark try to convince me to come home. I couldn't do that. I wanted to but how could I? Just not possible given the circumstances.

I flopped down on the hotel bed and grabbed the remote so I could turn on the TV and flip through the channels. I was doing my best not to think about Jeff. I had hurt him and couldn't blame him for rejecting me once he found out the truth…but it still hurt. I just wanted to be loved. My entire life, I chased it. My impossible dream. I tried to get it from Mom but she was a spiteful bitch that loved nothing, not even herself. Mark and I just couldn't work as we proved in the past, Annabelle only put up with me because she needed me and Jeff…well that was a done deal now.

In frustration I turned off the TV and curled up in a ball with the pillow over my head. Another sleepless night alone was on the horizon. No ending in sight for any of it. Who knew how long I would be running…if I had to do this much longer though death would start sounding like an awfully good option sooner rather than later.


	49. New Light

Jeff

I spent the rest of the school year drifting along, pulled into myself and let a distance grow between me and what friends I did have. They all tried to pull me back and get me back to normal but it never quite worked. There were times where I tried to let them do it but my heart was never really into it. I just didn't know what I wanted to do with myself. I couldn't just sit around hoping for James to call me or come back. It was becoming increasingly clear that that wasn't going to happen. Clearly he didn't feel that it was safe and thanks to Mark I knew he felt like I didn't want him back so away he stayed. Part of me really resented the fact that he was gone and was too afraid to try to deal with the issue. Then again, I could also understand why he didn't want to go to jail...I had no idea if the cops were actually looking for him or not. Shannon said they had still yet to go to the police though for all I knew, he was lying to try to get back on my good side. It was bad that I was even thinking that but my thought process was getting all screwed up.

The rumors at school were swirling like crazy and people were making all sorts of comments to me but I refused to engage them. They also bugged Annabelle about it too but she ramined mum on the subject like I did. I tried to talk her about James but she was withdrawn even from me. Evan had to tell me she broke up with Dave and after that I saw her around even less. She dropped out of school and focused on being a full time mother to Cooper. She had just turned eighteen and had complete access to Joseph and Caroline's money. James was apparently the owner of Joseph's porn enterprise though how he was running it on the run was beyond me.

Towards the end of the year I just stopped going to school and spent my days wandering around, thinking about what it was my life was coming to. I had no idea what I wanted or who I even was-I had no sense of identity for myself. For years I was defined by the victim that Matt and Adam made me to be. And then I had definied myself enitrely based on my relationship with James. It wasn't the way to live at all. Maybe it was easier in its way but it wasn't the way I could keep going on. I needed to find myself so if I ever chose to be in a relationship again I wouldn't be in this sad state of affairs if things didn't work out.

"Phil likes you," Evan told me yet again for the millionth time. We were sitting out on his porch, watching the kids across the street light off firecrackers. It wasn't anywhere near the fourth of July and they were totally going to get in trouble yet that was what we found so entertaining. They were such little brats that they completely deserved whatever it was they got. "He's been dying to be with you this whole time."

I just grunted and took a drink of my Coke. I was very aware of Phil's feelings for me. Problem was, I felt nowhere close to the same way back. I liked him yes but just as a friend. Even if I felt ready to date again I couldn't see myself being with him. Too bad everyone else could.

"He would be good for you I think." Evan just wasn't ready to stop. He meant well I knew that but it still didn't mean I wanted to hear it.

"I think I need to focus on ME first," I said in lieu of flat out saying I didn't ever want to date Phil. As much as I didn't want him I didn't want to come off that harsh. I was too nice like that.

"Yeah…I guess that's a good idea." Evan stretched his legs out before placing his right ankle over his knee and putting his hand over it. "I just thought maybe that um…you know, you needed someone to make this like…easier on you."

I shook my head. "I don't think jumping into another relationship is going to make it any easier. I think I'll just fuck them up with my shit."

"You wouldn't fuck anyone up…"

I just snorted in disbelief at that one. I was a fucked up mess whether anyone else wanted to admit it or not. We were all pretty fucked up in our way. Maybe that was what drew us together in the first place. "I still need to sort myself out before I even think about doing anything else. I know that."

"And how are you going to do that?"

I didn't give him an answer right then. I just shrugged my shoulders and we sat in silence for a couple of hours before going in and going to bed. I didn't go to sleep though. Instead I waited until everyone else was and then took a bag I had packed myself and snuck right out the window. Was it the right way to go? Most likely not but I didn't see how I had much of a choice in the matter. Leaving felt like the absolute best thing for me to do and I knew that everyone would just object if I told them about what I wanted to do. I had no plans on where I was going, not a whole lot of money...logically speaking, this was actually a dumb idea. It just felt right though. The moment I left the house a calm settled over me. When I bought the ticket for the first place I could (which was all the way to Santa Fe for whatever reason) and got on the bus, it felt even more right. The ride itself wasn't the greatest given that some of my fellow passengers looked suspect. But as the bus was leaving the city limits and I stared out at the landscape in front of me, my mouth twitched upwards and I smiled for the first time in ages.

...

James

I stepped into the ice cream shop, distracted by deleting text messages on my phone from Mark. He had been bugging me about coming home or just about my whereabouts in general yet I wasn't willing to do either. I didn't necessarily enjoy being all alone but at the same time I had a freedom that I hadn't had back at home. It felt like I could actually breathe. The shadow of Mom and the hell I had gone through growing up didn't hang over me here. While I still felt restless and crazy even after moving out of the house, I felt at peace here. Los Angeles was working for me, which was rather surprising. I always had figured I would hate a place like this.

I was just putting my phone away when I ran into a tiny girl who was messing with her phone as well. I tried to get around her at the last second but it was too late. We collided and her ice cream cone ended up on my shirt and she about went falling to the ground. I caught her at the last second and got her back on her own two feet, not even giving a shit about the mess on my shirt as I stared at her. "Whoa there..."

"Oh god I'm SO sorry!" She was ridiculously tiny compared to me (not even five feet tall easily) and she had a high pitched voice to boot. She had an accent of some sort though I couldn't tell what it was...it was horribly adorable though. She had the most gorgeous blue eyes that I had ever seen and her icy pale skin contrasted beautifully with her raven black hair. Her medium toned eyebrows revealed that it was dyed but I didn't care. She was absolutely gorgeous.

"It's okay," I tried to assure her. "It's fine really I-" I noticed her phone was on the floor so I bent down and picked it up for her. "I don't think it's broken..." I dusted it off. "Here you go-" I paused and smirked, noticing that she wasn't taking her eyes off me for a second. "I don't think I got your name."

"Miranda."

"Miranda..." I took one of her hands in mine, which was completely tiny compared to mine. "I'm James." I kissed it, keeping my eyes locked on hers for a long moment before switching my gaze to her ruined ice cream cone. "I think you need a new one."

"Yeah," she agreed. Whatever hurry she had been in was gone now. "I do."

"I'll buy." I snagged some napkins off the nearest table and quickly wiped myself clean.

"You do not HAVE to..."

"I insist..." I led her back up to the counter, tossing the napkins in the trash along the way. "What kind did you have?"

"Birthday Cake Remix," she replied as she daintily pointed up to the menu.

"What a coincidence. I was gonna get the same thing."

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Really?"

"Of course."

"Are you lying to be cute?"

"Of course not." To prove it to her, he ordered two cones of the Birthday Cake Remix and handed one to her and immediately licked his own. "See?" He grinned as she did and he held his arm out for her. "Wanna walk with me Baby Doll?" That name just came out but it immediately fit. She looked like a real life baby doll.

She nodded and he linked his arm with hers, leading her out of the place and already talking a mile a minute. He liked her already...he had known her for two seconds but he was completely smitten.


End file.
